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Must convince people we’ll ensure a stable govt., says Deve Gowda

President Erdoğan loses ground in Turkey’s big cities in local polls

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India wins ICC Test Championship mace for third successive time

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SC questions Assam govt. over untraced foreign immigrants

NEARBY

Hardik moves SC for stay on conviction NEW DELHI

Congress leader Hardik Patel on Monday moved the Supreme Court for an ex parte stay on his conviction in the 2015 Vispur rioting case. On March 29, the Gujarat High Court declined his plea to suspend his conviction. On July 25, 2018, the Sessions Court at Visnagar in Mehsana district sentenced Mr. Patel to two years in jail. NEWS A PAGE 10 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

We are not waiting for alliance, says Gopal Rai NEW DELHI

With speculation of an alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress refusing to die down, AAP moved its campaign for the Lok Sabha election in Delhi up a gear on Monday, holding nine public meetings in a day. Having announced candidates for all seven LS seats of Delhi last month, AAP has been campaigning across the city for weeks now. DELHI METRO

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‘Where are those who have not been deported and are not in detention centres?’

Alok Deshpande Wardha

NEW DELHI

In his first campaign rally in Maharashtra for the 2019 general election, Prime Mi­ nister Narendra Modi on Monday criticised the Con­ gress for coining the term ‘Hindu terror’. He added that the community would teach the Congress a fitting lesson for the slur. “The Congress and the NCP can stoop to the lowest level for the sake of vote­ bank politics. The Congress attempted to defame crores of Indians by using the term ‘Hindu terror’,” he said at a rally in Wardha in the Vi­ darbha region. The BJP’s Ramdas Tadas is seeking re­ election from the consti­ tuency, taking on Charulata Tokas of the Congress.

The Supreme Court on Mon­ day questioned the Assam government’s efforts to trace over 70,000 illegal immi­ grants, who have already mixed with the local popula­ tion in the State. A Ministry of Home Affairs affidavit shows that 91,609 persons were declared ‘ille­ gal foreigners’ by the Fo­ reigners Tribunals in Assam till March 2018. Of these, 72,486 are absconding. “This is quite a large num­ ber,” a worried Home Minis­ try told the court. A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said there might even be “unde­ clared foreigners” who had succeeded in “merging with the local population” in the State. “What is the number of these undeclared foreign­ ers?” The CJI’s question drew a blank from the Assam government. The Home Ministry ex­ plained that persons de­ clared ‘illegal foreigners’ by the tribunals either abscond immediately or are already untraceable. Now, 829 per­ sons declared ‘foreigners’ by the tribunals and 115 foreign­ ers, who have completed their jail term, are lodged in the six jail­cum­detention centres in the State.

Why manifestos of TDP and YSRCP are a ‘secret’

“But where are those ille­ gals who have neither been deported nor are lodged in the detention centres? Where are they? How will you track them? What have you done in the past five years?” Chief Justice Gogoi asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Assam. Mr. Mehta initially re­ quested the Bench to defer the case. Many obstacles The hearing saw the court criticise the policy of “push­ ing back” illegal foreigners to Bangladesh without enquir­ ing about their country of origin.

Fearing a copycat response, each is waiting for the other to go first YSRCP, all other parties in Andhra Pradesh, including the Jana Sena Party, the BJP, the Congress, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Praja Shanti Party have released their manifestos.

Typically, political parties scramble to complete their manifestos on time so they can use them to woo voters. But it would appear that nothing is typical about the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Raining sops both of whom are holding Instead of releasing their to their manifestos for dear manifestos, YSR Congress life even as the elections president Y. S. Jagan are barely 10 days away. Mohan Reddy and Chief Both the TDP and the Minister N. Chandrababu YSRCP have their Naidu have both been busy manifestos ready, but announcing sops at their each is waiting public meetings for the other across the State. to release While their ensuring document that no first. section is This left out, ‘wait­ they have and­ been respond’ specifically approach targeting seems to pensioners, have been the Backward prompted by Classes, women the fear that and farmers. Illustration by Deepak their rival Mr. Naidu, might ‘copy’ Harichandan during his their ideas. campaign, made 10 major Even before the election promises, including a schedule was announced, special bank for the the TDP government had Backward Classes with a hiked pensions to ₹2,000. capital of ₹10,000 crore. The YSR Congress Party On the other hand, Mr. then claimed that the TDP Reddy sought to win the had stolen the idea of a hearts of the unemployed pension hike from its by promising to fill 2.3 lakh ‘Navaratnalu’, a document job vacancies. released at the party’s annual meeting. Houses, more houses When the Opposition Telangana suspense leader promised that 25 In neighbouring lakh houses would be Telangana, too, there was a constructed for the poor, suspense for days, and Mr. Naidu promised that 20 finally, when they released lakh new houses would be their respective constructed in addition to manifestos, the Telangana the 30 lakh houses that are Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and under construction. the Congress accused each And the battle of other of copying their promises goes on. “offers.” Meanwhile, the manifestos But for the TDP and the remain hidden. CM YK

This was in the backdrop of the Home Ministry spell­ ing out obstacles in the na­ tionality verification process for illegal foreigners. Wrong information “They provide wrong infor­ mation. Details of the coun­ try of origin depend com­ pletely upon information provided by the persons,” the affidavit said. Though as a sovereign nation, India has the absolute right to deport illegal immigrants, it cannot do so randomly, the affidavit said, agreeing with the court’s point of view. Mr. Mehta said the “push­ back” policy was dropped in

Former vice­chairman of IL&FS arrested Special Correspondent Mumbai

VIJAYAWADA

‘Samjhauta verdict exposed conspiracy to defame crores’

Krishnadas Rajagopal

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G.V.R. Subba Rao

Voters will punish Congress for ‘Hindu terror’ slur: Modi

The former vice­chairman and managing director of the beleaguered financial services firm Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Ser­ vices (IL&FS), Hari Sanka­ ran, was arrested here by the Serious Fraud Investiga­ tion Office on Monday. He was sent to police custody till April 4. An official spokesperson said he was arrested “on the grounds that he abused his powers in IL&FS through his fraudulent conduct and in granting loans to entities

which were not creditwor­ thy or have been declared non­performing assets, and caused wrongful loss to the company and its creditors.” SFIO counsel Hiten Vene­ gavkar sought his custody for five days. The spokesperson said that in “granting loans to en­ tities which were not credit­ worthy or have been de­ clared non­performing assets (NPAs)”, Sankaran had caused wrongful loss to the company and its credi­ tors. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

2013, and now diplomatic channels were employed to determine the nationality of an illegal foreigner and de­ port the person. The Ministry’s affidavit said the Assistant High Com­ missioner of Bangladesh vi­ sits detention centres to talk to detainees. If their infor­ mation is proved correct, they are expeditiously issued travel documents. “You have been pushing them back without knowing their coun­ try of origin. Now, suddenly you have grown wise and are resorting to diplomatic chan­ nels,” the CJI said. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10 #398299

Aseemanand verdict Alluding to the Samjhauta Express blast case verdict, which acquitted Swami Aseemanand, without ho­ wever specifically referring to the case, Mr. Modi said it had exposed the conspiracy hatched by the Congress. “How can the Congress be forgiven for insulting the Hindus in front of the world? Weren’t you hurt when you heard the word ‘Hindu ter­ ror’? How can a community known for peace, brother­ hood and harmony be

Pointed attack: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a rally in Wardha, Maharashtra, on Monday. S. SUDARSHAN *

linked with terrorism? In the thousand years of history, not a single incident shows an act of Hindu terrorism. Even the British historians could never find it,” the Prime Minister said. Claiming that it was Sushil Kumar Shinde, who as Un­ ion Home Minister used the term, Mr. Modi said the Con­ gress­NCP government in Maharashtra had given a free hand to the crowd in Azad Maidan, which went on the rampage destroying the me­ morial of martyrs. Balakot card Issuing a stern warning to the Congress, Mr. Modi said the Hindu community was aware now. “It is evident from the fact that one has to contest a seat where the mi­

Poll official seeks report on Yogi’s ‘Modi’s sena’ remarks Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sought a report from the Ghaziabad District Magis­ trate on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks, de­ scribing the armed forces as “Modiji ki sena” at a rally in Ghaziabad on Sunday. The remarks drew con­ demnation from the Opposi­ tion parties. “Taking cognisance of the issue, the State CEO has asked for a report from the District Election Officer [the

Yogi Adityanath

District Magistrate] by Tues­ day noon,” the Election Commission said. In his speech, Mr. Aditya­ nath said the Congress served “biryani” to terro­ rists, while Mr. Modi’s forces treated them with bullets and bombs.

He said Congress leaders used “Ji” for terrorists like Jaish­e­Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, but under the Prime Minister’s leader­ ship, the BJP­led govern­ ment was destroying their camps. Reacting sharply to Mr. Adityanath’s comments, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock on Twitter, saying it was an insult to the armed forces. (With agency inputs) CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

nority is majority,” he said, alluding to the decision of Congress president Rahul Gandhi — without naming him — to contest Kerala’s Wayanad, in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Repeating his tirade against the Congress for seeking evidence of the IAF’s strikes in Balakot, Pakistan, Mr. Modi urged the crowd, “Do you want heroes of Hin­ dustan or of Pakistan? You want saboot [evidence] or sapoot [great son]? Teach those who ask for evidence a lesson.” CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10 OVER 200 WRITERS ISSUE JOINT APPEAL A PAGE 10 OPPOSITION GETS A WEEK FOR VVPAT REPLY A PAGE 10 FOGGY IN WAYANAD A EDITORIAL

GST revenue hits a record high in March Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections clocked ₹1.06 lakh crore in March 2019. This is the highest in the history of the tax in India, and the fourth time monthly collections have crossed ₹1 lakh crore this year, according to offi­ cial data released on Mon­ day. Average monthly col­ lections for the year stand at ₹98,114 crore, 9.2% high­ er than the average for 2017­18. DETAILED REPORT ON A PAGE 14

A ND-NDE

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TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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‘Won’t budge on citizenship Bill’ Only the NPP can unite the voice of the Northeast, says Meghalaya CM candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat. Former CM Mukul Sang­ ma is the Congress candidate for the seat while the BJP has fielded Rikman G. Momin.

Press Trust of India Tura

National People’s Party su­ premo and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday said the party will continue to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. “Meghalaya was the first State to oppose the Bill and raise objection. We took the initiative to unite different political parties of the North­ east and made our voice heard in Delhi and ensured that the Bill was not intro­ duced in Rajya Sabha,” Mr. Sangma said while cam­ paigning for the party candi­ date in the Lok Sabha poll in Tura constituency. He claimed that the NPP is the only party that can unite the voice of the region and make it heard in Delhi. Mr. Sangma asked the pe­

Conrad Sangma at a rally in Tura. FILE PHOTO *

ople to vote for his party as “NPP is the party of the Northeast.” Three rallies The NPP chief on Monday flew to three different loca­ tions in the North Garo Hills and the East Garo Hills (Ron­ grong Abema, Mangsang and Chibonga) to campaign for his sister Agatha, the NPP

BJP will not repeat Tripura feat in Odisha, asserts Naveen

Kuki militants to cast vote by postal ballots

Rejects the PM’s claim made in New Delhi on Sunday

Press Trust of India

Special Correspondent BHUBANESWAR

#398299

‘Wrong notion ’ The NPP chief alleged that the Congress is propagating a wrong notion that his party will partner with the BJP and ensure that the Bill is passed in the Lok Sabha. He added, “We will re­ main true to our commit­ ment to the people of the Northeast and will never al­ low any Bill that would ham­ per the interest of our peo­ ple.” Mr. Sangma also claimed that the NPP has “fulfilled” its promise made in the 2018 election with education as its top priority. “We had promised an

education policy and we brought out the policy well before the completion of one year. For over four decades, the education department had to work without any pol­ icy or direction, we have scripted a direction to move forward to ensure better educational facilities in Meghalaya,” he said. The NPP chief said that based on the education poli­ cy, the Meghalaya govern­ ment approached the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and was accorded 11 Eklavya Re­ sidential Model Schools, out of 50 such schools across India. He said that if Ms. Agatha was elected as an MP, she will add to the initiative start­ ed by the Meghalaya Demo­ cratic Alliance government and will voice its concerns in the Parliament.

Odisha Chief Minister and Bi­ ju Janata Dal president Na­ veen Patnaik on Monday re­ jected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the BJP will repeat Tripura­ like result in Odisha in the upcoming elections. “We will do very well, as I have said before,” said Mr. Patnaik, while responding to a query about Mr. Modi’s re­ marks during his interaction as part of his Main Bhi Chowkidar programme via video­ conferencing from Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. Responding to a question

from a fisherman of Mahaka­ lapada area of Odisha’s Ken­ drapara district, Mr. Modi had said that Odisha will spring a surprise this time. “Odisha will surprise the country. Odisha will become a second Tripura this time,” he had said. Observing that people did not consider the BJP strong enough in Odisha in the past, Mr. Modi had said that he was quite impressed by the enthusiasm during his recent visit to the State to campaign for his party.

scheduled to address anoth­ er rally in Sundargarh dis­ trict on April 6. On the other hand, Mr. Patnaik is scheduled to start campaigning for his party nominees for the first phase of poll from April 3. The elections for the 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 As­ sembly constituencies are being held in Odisha simulta­ neously in four phases — April 11, 18, 23 and 29. While BJP national presi­ dent Amit Shah had earlier claimed that his party will win 120 of the 147 Assembly seats in the State, Mr. Patnaik had recently claimed that the BJD will win all the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming polls. The BJD had won 117 Assembly seats and 20 LS seats in 2014 elections.

PM’s rallies Mr. Modi, who addressed an election rally at Jeypore in the Koraput district on March 29, is scheduled to ad­ dress a rally in Kalahandi dis­ trict on Tuesday. He is also

Imphal

The Election Commission on Monday notified that the cadres of the Kuki mili­ tant groups, who signed the Suspension of Opera­ tions agreement with both the Centre and the Manipur government, will cast their votes in postal ballots. To exercise their fran­ chise, the cadres also must reside in their designated camps and their names fea­ ture in the voters’ list, the office of the State Chief Electoral Officer said in a statement here. They would have to collect the postal ballots from assis­ tant nodal officers or nodal officers. The agreement was first signed by the State and the Centre with two militant groups of the community in 2008.

BJP blames SKM for backing out of pre-poll alliance in Sikkim

Call for poll boycott in Mizoram

‘Were ready to accommodate most of their demands’

Press Trust of India

Press Trust of India Gangtok

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out at the Sik­ kim Krantikari Morcha for backing out of the alliance between the two parties for inexplicable reasons a few days after making a firm commitment on the issue. “We were ready to accom­ modate most of the de­ mands by the SKM leader­ ship to sew up an alliance for the Sikkim Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, but the P.S. Golay­led party chickened out at the last minute with­ out giving any reasons,” a se­ nior BJP leader, who was in­ volved in talks with the SKM leadership, said. He added that the with­

Front government from power, he said that the SKM will be held “squarely res­ ponsible” if Pawan Kumar Chamling returns to power for a sixth term in the State. The BJP leader said that his party was undaunted by the setback. He said that the BJP has put candidates on 12 As­ sembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat with an aim to open its account at the hustings. Elections to the 32­As­ sembly seat as well as the Lok Sabha constituency in Sikkim will be held simulta­ neously on April 11. The SKM and the SDF are contesting on all the 32 As­ sembly seats.

SKM will be < > The squarely responsible if the P.K. Chamling government returns to power for a sixth term in Sikkim A BJP leader

drawal has embarrassed the BJP as it had gone public about it on a commitment gi­ ven by Mr. Golay himself fol­ lowing a meeting with BJP’s Northeast and Sikkim in­ charge Ram Madhav in Delhi in the first week of March this year. Ruing at the missed op­ portunity to oust the 25­ year­old Sikkim Democratic

Aizawl

An umbrella organisation of major civil societies and students’ associations in Mizoram on Monday decid­ ed to boycott the April 11 election to the lone Mizo­ ram Lok Sabha seat and or­ ganise a State­wide indefi­ nite bandh from April 8, sources said. The NGO Coordination Committee said that a deci­ sion was taken earlier to boycott the parliamentary poll if special polling booths were established at the Mizoram­Tripura bor­ der Kanhmun village. “The NGOCC opposed the special polling stations for Bru refugees at Kanh­ mun,” an NGOCC state­ ment said.

Forest fires threatening Odisha’s flora and fauna March has alone registered 4495 fire spots STAFF REPORTER BHUBANESWAR

Odisha had registered a sud­ den jump in forest fires across the State resulting in massive damage to flora and fauna. As many as 5332 fire spots had been noticed since No­ vember 1 last, the beginning of forest fire season, in the State. The month of March had alone registered 4495 fire spots. As per statistics generated by SNPP (Suomi National Po­ lar­orbiting Partnership) sa­ tellite, only 385 fire spots were recorded February while in January, only 55 fire incidences were detected. Southern Odisha looked red in the map provided by Forest Fire Geo Portal of For­ est Survey . In Koraput, the southernmost forest circle in Odisha, 2809 fire spots had been detected since Novem­ CM YK

Flames are seen at Kasma Hills near Amapalli village in the Kalahandi district of Odisha. BISWARANJAN ROUT *

ber. It was followed by Bha­ wanipatna with 622 fire inci­ dences and Berhampur (601). Rourkela and Sambal­ pur division had relatively lower incidences with 416 and 355 fire spots detected during the same period. The month of April start­ ed with 11 fires on Monday as detected by Moderate reso­ lution Imaging spectro­ra­

diometer (MODIS) with a re­ solution of 1 kmX1 km resolution. Forest divisions mapped Though forest department claimed to have mapped the forest divisions prone to fire and maintained more than 6,000­km long fire line in different forests ahead of the fire season, forests continue

to be gutted. Given the vast­ ness of forest areas and gi­ gantic task, number of fire watchers engaged in fire­ fighting appears to be too little. “Apart from causing a huge loss to the timber and other fruit and leaf bearing trees and creepers of the for­ est, fires also destroy wildlife and their habitat. Nests and eggs of ground dwelling birds are lost. Reptiles also lose their young ones due to forest fires,” said Biswajit Mohanty, former member of National Board for Wildlife. Fire could only be tamed at the initial stage before it became a conflagration pre­ venting anybody from even approaching it due to the in­ tense heat generated, Mr. Mohanty said demanding it should be monitored from the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

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DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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DELHI

Timings

Tuesday, April 02

RISE 06:11 SET 18:39 RISE 04:30 SET 16:04 Wednesday, April 03

RISE 06:10 SET 18:40 RISE 05:14 SET 16:57 Thursday, April 04

RISE 06:08 SET 18:40 RISE 05:46 SET 17:50

Rajnath pitches PM’s ‘graft-free’ record at Uttarakhand rallies Congress should learn how to run a government from BJP, says Home Minister PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Pithoragarh/Gopeshwar/ Kotdwar

0 DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy themselves about the veracity of an advertisement before responding to any published in this newspaper. THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not vouch for the authenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s products and/or services. In no event can the Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Dir­ ector/s, Employees of this newspaper/ company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and/or damages for advertisements in this newspaper.

The BJP has given a corrup­ tion­free government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, besides setting the country on the path of becoming one of the largest economies of the world, Union Minister Raj­ nath Singh said at a series of rallies in Uttarakhand. Addressing poll rallies in Pithoragarh, Gopeshwar, Kotdwar and Jhabrera, he said Mr. Modi has piloted the country steadily on the path of development. In Pithoragarh, canvass­ ing for BJP MP Ajay Tamta, who has been renominated from Almora (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Singh said the Congress should learn from the BJP how a government should be run and accused the grand old party of always doing politics over the issue of

Home Minister Rajnath Singh. FILE PHOTO *

development. “India, which ranked 11th in the list of world econo­ mies in 2013, has jumped to the sixth position and will stand 5th in the list over the next six months. If the pace of development continues, India will be the third largest economy in the world by 2028,” the Home Minister said at the rally at the D.S. Bisht ground in Pithoragarh. “How a government is run is something the Congress should learn from the BJP. There has not been a single

charge of corruption against any Minister in the Modi Ca­ binet in the last five years,” he said. In the Almora (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency, BJP’s Ajay Tamta is pitted against arch rival Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta. Referring to Congress pre­ sident Rahul Gandhi’s pro­ posed minimum income guarantee scheme aiming to lift five crore families out of poverty, Mr. Singh said, “The poverty alleviation slogan was first given by Jawaharlal Nehru and carried forward by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. It is being repeated by Rahul Gandhi who is pro­ mising to put ₹72,000 into the account of every poor person.” “It is a fake promise like the slogan of poverty allevia­ tion,” he said. He also attacked the Con­ gress president for being

“abusive” towards the Prime Minister, saying it was not just a post but an institution. The Union Home Minister praised Trivendra Singh Ra­ wat, saying the Uttarakhand Chief Minister was the only one to envision a universal health scheme much before the Centre launched Ayush­ man Bharat. ‘Courtroom pledge’ At a rally in Gopeshwar, Mr. Singh began his speech in the manner of a courtroom pledge to state only the truth. “I will state only the truth and nothing but the truth,” he said. “Those who came before us (Congress governments) left without keeping their promises. We believe in look­ ing straight into the eyes and talking. If we continue to grow at the current pace we will be among the three big­ gest economies in the world by 2028,” Mr. Singh said.

Senior leader Chandumajra fielded from Anandpur Sahib

Probe sought into ‘hawala money’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHANDIGARH

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday announced the names of three more candi­ dates for the single phase Lok Sabha election in Pun­ jab on May 19. SAD president Sukhbir Badal said Prem Singh Chan­ dumajra has been fielded from Anandpur Sahib, Surjit Singh Rakhra from Patiala and former bureaucrat Dar­ bara Singh Guru from the Fa­ tehgarh Sahib parliamentary seat. The party has so far an­ nounced the names of five candidates. Out of a total 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, the Akali Dal will contest on 10 seats and BJP three. The party had earlier cleared the names of Bibi Ja­ gir Kaur and Charanjit Singh Atwal from Khadoor Sahib

Press trust of india Chandigarh

SAD chief Sukhbir Badal.

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and Jalandhar seats respectively. Addressing a rally in Khanna, Mr. Badal hit out at the ruling Congress govern­ ment and said: “Capt. Ama­ rinder Singh had taken oath in the name of sacred icons of Sikh religion while pro­ mising farm loan waiver, jobs for youth, drug eradica­ tion etc. People now feel cheated as he has gone back on his promises.” He said the people were keen to teach the Congress government a lesson by de­ feating it in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday urged the Punjab chief electoral officer to or­ der a probe into the allega­ tions of a church priest who had accused the pol­ ice of misappropriation of seized hawala money. “The SAD asked Pun­ jab’s CEO to order an inde­ pendent probe into the misappropriation of ₹6.6 crore from a priest. This seemed to have happened with the connivance of the Congress party and its leaders and could be used to influence voters,” a dele­ gation of Akali Dal leaders alleged after meeting Chief Electoral Officer S. Karuna Raju here.

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Azad to hit the campaign trail in Jammu from today

IN BRIEF

SAD announces three more candidates for Lok Sabha poll

Heavyweight in the ring

Will address a series of rallies in the LS constituency Congress in shock, says Himachal Chief Minister NAHAN (H.P.)

Chief Minister Jairam Thakur has said that the Congress was in shock after the BJP announced candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal. Speaking at a poll rally on Sunday he said Congress leaders who were earlier seeking tickets were now shying away from contest. PTI

Woman killed as truck hits motorcycle MUZAFFARNAGAR (U.P.)

A 35­year­old woman was killed and her nephew critically injured after the motorcycle on which they were travelling was hit by a speeding truck here, police said on Monday. The accident occurred on Meerut­Karnal highway near Loyi village, they said. PTI

“More than five crore fa­ milies will be benefited by this. This announcement will be implemented with full commitment as we did earlier in the case of farm loan waiver in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Press trust of india Jammu

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad will hit the campaign trail in Jammu parliamen­ tary constituency from Tuesday by addressing a se­ ries of rallies in Jammu, Ra­ jouri and Poonch districts, a senior Congress leader said. The Congress has nomi­ nated its State unit senior vice­president and former Minister Raman Bhalla for the Lok Sabha constituency, where he is supported by the National Conference while the PDP has not field­ ed any candidate for the seat. “Ghulam Nabi Azad will tour Rajouri and Poonch dis­ tricts tomorrow, to take stock of situation on the bor­ der. He will also campaign

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. *

for the candidate (Bhalla),” Jammu and Kashmir Con­ gress chief spokesperson Ra­ vinder Sharma said. Mr. Sharma said Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s proposed minimum income guarantee scheme aimed at lifting five crore families out of poverty will bring a revo­ lution in the country.

‘Serving the poor’ Claiming that during the 10 years of UPA rule 140 million people were pulled out of poverty, Mr. Sharma said the Congress believes that In­ dia’s strength lies in its unity in diversity and wants peo­ ple from all parts of the country to live happily. “While the BJP serves the interests of the rich, the Congress serves the interests of the farmers, poor and downtrodden sections of the society,” he added.

HC issues notices to Amarinder, son in I­T case

‘Not a good signal for the masses’

Accused of giving false statements

New Delhi

BJP ally Janata Dal (United) on Monday said politicians sitting in high offices should not be seen in the vicinity of those facing serious crimi­ nal charges and that the rul­ ing NDA must seek votes for the work of the Modi go­ vernment in last five years. Reacting to reports about the presence of some of the Dadri lynching case accused in the front row of a public meeting addressed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Bishahra village on Sunday, JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said it was not a good signal to the masses. “People watch the asso­ ciation of those in public life. Politicians sitting in

Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh on his way to file nomination for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat on Monday. His son and party chief Akhilesh Yadav is also seen. PTI *

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JD(U) frowns upon Dadri rally incident PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

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high offices should not be seen in the vicinity of those facing serious criminal charges,” he said. Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in 2015 for allegedly keeping cow meat at his home in Bishahra. Reports said some of the accused facing murder charge in the case were in the front row of Mr. Aditya­ nath’s election meeting. Plank of development Mr. Tyagi said Mr. Modi had led the NDA to victory on the plank of development and that no attempt was made to sharpen social con­ flicts.“The NDA should seek votes for its development works in the last five years,” the JD(U) leader said.

SIT to probe Neha Shorie murder case

Inmates, deputy jailor hurt in brawl at Jaipur Central Jail

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Prisoners include four accused in 2008 Jaipur blasts case

Press trust of india

CHANDIGARH

Chandigarh

The Punjab police on Mon­ day set up a Special Investi­ gation Team to probe the murder of the 36­year­old woman officer who was shot dead at her office last week in Kharar. Neha Shorie, posted as zonal licensing authority with the Drug and Food Chemical Laboratory in Kharar, was shot dead by a man who later killed him­ self as well. The five­member SIT, which will be headed by In­ spector General of Police (Rupnagar Range) V. Nee­ raja, will probe into all the facts and circumstances leading to the incident, said an official statement here.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday is­ sued notices to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his son Raninder Singh in an Income Tax case. The court of Justice Rajbir Sehrawat issued notices to both of them for April 25, said senior advocate Chetan Mittal, the counsel for In­ come Tax Department. The Income Tax Depart­ ment had moved the High Court against the November 2018 order of the court of Additional Sessions Judge Ludhiana, quashing the summoning order passed against Amarinder Singh and his son in this case. The trial court had earlier

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. *

issued summons to both of them to appear personally for the hearing. Both were facing accusa­ tions of making false state­ ments, and willful omission in providing required infor­ mation to the Income Tax Department.

Special Correspondent JAIPUR

After an alleged brawl in the Jaipur Central Jail, the police have registered a first infor­ mation report against seven inmates on charges of at­ tacking the jail guards and a deputy jailor when they were inspecting a cell in a high­security ward of the prison on Saturday. The jail inmates include four ac­ cused in the 2008 Jaipur se­ rial blasts case. The incident occurred af­ ter the accused, facing trial in the blasts case, wrote an application to the Special

Judge seeking a direction to the jail administration to in­ stall a complaint box and en­ sure the visit of a judicial of­ ficer to their ward as per the guidelines of the jail manual. After the court issued notice to the jail authorities, the jail guards allegedly gave life threats to the accused. FIR registered In a brawl that followed, sev­ eral prisoners were injured and deputy jailor Raj Mahen­ dra reportedly fractured his finger. The inmates were ta­ ken to the jail dispensary for first aid. FIR against them

has been registered under Sections 332 and 353 of IPC, dealing with the assault on public servants, at the Lal Kothi police station. While Director General (Prisons) N.R.K. Reddy said strict security measures had been taken to prevent the re­ currence of violence on the jail premises, civil rights groups have demanded an inquiry into the incident and its background by a commit­ tee of independent obser­ vers as well as suspension of the jail officials who had al­ legedly threatened and bea­ ten the inmates.

Now, Tej Pratap floats ‘Lalu Rabri Morcha’ in Bihar Urges mother Rabri Devi to contest from Saran Lok Sabha seat in place of his father­in­law Press trust of india Patna

In fresh trouble for Lalu Pra­ sad’s RJD, his mercurial elder son Tej Pratap Yadav on Monday urged his mother Rabri Devi to contest from Saran Lok Sabha seat in place of the father of his es­ tranged wife and threatened to contest as an Independent if his request was not heeded. The maverick MLA and former Minister spoke while announcing the formation of a parallel outfit Lalu Rabri Morcha which he insisted

was not separate from the RJD and pointed towards photographs of his parents besides younger brother Te­ jashwi, who has in the recent past emerged as the party’s de facto leader. “Saran is the seat of my father Lalu ji and mother Ra­ bri ji. I urge my mother, with folded hands, that she her­ self enter the fray from there. If this does not hap­ pen I will contest as an Inde­ pendent and make my best efforts to win it,” a furious Mr. Yadav told reporters here.

Tej Pratap Yadav.

*

Chandrika Rai, the party’s MLA from Parsa seat falling under Saran, was an­ nounced as the candidate from the Lok Sabha seat last week. BJP has named sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy as its

nominee on the seat. Mr. Rai’s daughter Aish­ warya had tied the knot with Mr. Yadav in May last year though the latter moved a di­ vorce petition within less than six months of the marriage. Mr. Yadav, who has been pressing the candidature of two of his loyalists Chandra Prakash from Jehanabad and Angesh from Sheohar, an­ nounced that the duo would be fielded by his Morcha from the respective seats. Replying to a query, he shot back, “What action can

the party take against me? The RJD leadership has to realise that there is wides­ pread resentment against the NDA government in Bi­ har which we have to har­ ness. We must not end up an­ gering the people.” ‘Bid to divide us’ “Many elements have en­ tered the RJD who are trying to drive a wedge between my brother and me. I would urge Tejashwi, whom I al­ ways call my Arjuna, to be­ ware of such elements,” Mr. Yadav said.

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 9 No. 78 ●

CM YK

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Modi targets Sharad Pawar; NCP hits back with Advani jibe

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Campaign heat

PM says Pawar knows situation not in his favour, decided to not contest polls Responding to Modi’s re­ marks, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the party knew how to respect elders in its fold unlike the BJP which unceremoniously dropped someone as senior as party patriarch L.K. Advani. Mr. Modi’s attack on Mr. Pawar was out of frustration on seeing what he claimed was an empty rally ground at Wardha, he said. Mr. Pawar’s daughter Su­ priya Sule termed the criti­ cism as “unfortunate”. Ms. Sule, who is seeking re­elec­ tion from Baramati said, “It was unexpected of the prime minister to have said so...It is unfortunate for one whose party doesn’t respect the el­ derly to have said so...He was expected to speak on the core issues and develop­ ment,” Ms. Sule said.

Press Trust of India Wardha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday targeted NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying there was infighting in his party, which was slipping from his control. Launching the BJP­Shiv Sena alliance’s poll cam­ paign in Maharashtra, Mr. Modi said Pawar decided not to contest the upcom­ ing Lok Sabha polls after realising that the situation was not in his favour. “There was a time when he (Pawar) would think he too can be the prime minis­ ter. He had also declared he would contest the poll. But suddenly, one day, he said he was happy in the Rajya Sabha, and that he would not contest,” Mr. Modi said. “Sharad Pawar ji is also

Rally scene: A BJP supporter wears a Modi mask at the Prime Minister’s rally in Wardha on Monday. S SUDARSHAN *

aware which way the wind is blowing. This time, the peo­ ple of the country have forced big guns to run, leav­ ing the (election) ground,” Modi said. “Today Pawar sahab has

been bowled by people. His false promises have been ex­ posed and he has been hit­ wicket by his nephew,” he said. Mr. Modi also accused Pawar of encouraging dynas­ tic rule.

Congress party workers, street children rushing to collect water bottles at a rally by Congress candidate Suresh Zambad (not in pic) in Aurangabad on Monday. The severe heatwave in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions has resulted in average temperatures crossing 40 degrees Celsius. YOGESH LONDHE *

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BJP targets Ajit Pawar on irrigation scam, says HC verdict imminent

Bhide ‘Guruji’ supporter meets Ambedkar Triggers speculation on VBA’s choice for Sangli Lok Sabha seat

Shoumojit Banerjee Shoumojit Banerjee Pune

Influential Dhangar (sheph­ erd) community leader Gop­ ichand Padalkar, who re­ cently announced his decision to contest as an In­ dependent candidate from Sangli, met with Vanchit Ba­ hujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar on Monday. According to sources, Mr. Ambedkar, who is eyeing the sizeable Dhangar vote bank, is thinking of fielding Mr. Pa­ dalkar from Sangli which is in the sugar heartland of western Maharashtra. The meeting has caused

Gopichand Padalkar

ripples as Mr. Padalkar, who campaigned energetically for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections, is reported to have congenial ties with octogenarian radical Hindut­

va leader Sambhaji Bhide ‘Guruji’, prime accused in orchestrating the Bhima­Ko­ regaon clashes last year. Given that Bhide ‘Guruji — who heads the Sangli­based fringe right wing outfit ‘Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan’ — is Mr. Amdedkar’s bitterest ad­ versary, Mr. Padalkar’s prob­ able induction into the VBA is expected to court controversy. The VBA, which is con­ testing the polls in alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis­e­Ittehad­ul­ Muslimeen (AIMIM), had earlier said it would field Jaisingh Shendge, another

Dhangar leader who alleged­ ly is not too keen on contesting. Mr. Padalkar’s entry into the electoral battle is likely spoil the pitch for Sanjay Pa­ til, the sitting BJP MP, and the Swabhimani Paksha can­ didate Vishal Patil, a grand­ son of former Chief Minister Vasantdada Patil. Mr. Padalkar, who cam­ paigned zealously for the BJP in 2014, fell out with the saf­ fron party after being alleg­ edly disillusioned with the Devendra Fadnavis govern­ ment for not fulfilling its pre­ poll promises made to the Dhangar community.

Pune

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former De­ puty Chief Minister Ajit Pa­ war would soon face a reck­ oning for his ‘role’ in the alleged multi­crore irriga­ tion scam, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chandrakant Patil said on Monday. “The case against Ajit Pa­ war is currently on at Bom­ bay High Court. We [the BJP government] have submit­ ted all documents pertain­ ing to the case. The court is expected to announce its verdict any moment now,” Mr. Patil, the cabinet Minis­

ter for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation said in Sola­ pur district. While this is not the first time the BJP has attempted to exert pressure on Mr. Pa­ war by bringing up his name in connection with the al­ leged irrigation scam, Mr. Patil’s remarks against the NCP leader in the face of the approaching general elec­ tions assume significance. “Our country runs on the basis of the Constitution. The BJP has faith in it. And our government has taken action against all offenders within the legal and consti­ tutional framework. [NCP leader] Chhagan Bhujbal,

too, went to jail for two years in connection with the various corruption cases lodged against him,” said Mr. Patil. In November last year, the BJP’s Maharashtra unit president Raosaheb Danve had made a statement about Mr. Pawar’s imminent “ar­ rest” in connection with the case. A little more than three weeks after Mr. Danve’s statement, a 26­page affida­ vit filed by the Anti­Corrup­ tion Bureau (ACB) in the Nagpur bench of the Bom­ bay High Court spelled out Mr. Pawar’s alleged role in the scam.

HC extends protection to Navlakha Sonam Saigal Mumbai

The Bombay High Court on Monday extended protec­ tion from arrest of activist Gautam Navlakha till April 15, 2019 in the Bhima Kore­ gaon violence case. A division bench of Jus­ tices Ranjit More and Bha­ rati Dangre was hearing a plea filed by Mr. Navlakha urging the court to quash the FIR registered against him by Pune police. Mr. Navlakha has been charged under various sec­ tions of IPC and UAPA. The matter will now be heard on April 15.

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DEATH S.GOPALAN, 83, Formerly of The Wimco, Bombay, passed away on 31.03.19, Evening At 7pm. Cremation on 01.04.19.In Besant Nagar Crematorium. Bereved By Daughters, Sons-InLaw & Grand Sons. Ct: 044-24357119 / 9840264548 / 9840340738

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IN BRIEF

Karnataka Speaker accepts Jadhav’s resignation BENGALURU

Putting an end to uncertainty that lasted nearly a month, Karnataka Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Monday accepted the resignation of Umesh Jadhav (in photo) from the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Jadhav had quit the MLA seat from Chincholi, won on Congress ticket, to join the BJP, which has now declared him its candidate for the Lok Sabha election from Kalaburagi. He will take on veteran Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge.

Report sought on forced starvation of woman THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The State Women’s Commission (SWC) has taken suo motu case in the suspected dowry killing of a young mother by enforced starvation, at her husband’s house at Oyur in Kollam district last week. The SWC has sought a report on the woman’s death from the Kollam Rural district police chief. The panel viewed seriously the reports that superstition and the practice of occult could have been the reasons behind the death. The SWC would take action after receiving the report from the police.

T.N. man held in Kerala for peddling ganja KOTTAYAM

The district police here have nabbed a Tamil Nadu native who used to traffic huge quantities of ganja to Kerala from Andhra Pradesh via the Cumbum­Kumily route. The arrested has been identified as Rasanga, 45, of Cumbum. He used to purchase the contraband from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and sell it in the southern States, including Kerala. Rasanga was produced before a magistrate and remanded in custody.

Modi taunts Opposition on ‘Kashmir PM’ plea

Rahul promises 6% of GDP for education

SNC Lavalin case to be heard only after polls

‘Congress is quiet on such demands’

‘NYAY will be surgical strike on poverty’

SC judge N.V. Ramana says the hearing will take time

V. Geetanath

R. Avadhani R. Ravikanth Reddy B. Pradeep

Legal Correspondent

As campaign hots up in Telugu­speaking States, BJP and Cong. spar with each other

HYDERABAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the Congress and other Opposi­ tion parties of the Grand Al­ liance to respond to Nation­ al Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah’s assertion that Kashmir needed to have a separate Prime Minis­ ter and the State should rev­ ert back to the pre­1950 position. “The Congress has to answer to this demand by its alliance partner. I demand former PM Deve Gowda, former Defence Minister Sharad Pawar, Mamata didi, ‘U Turn’ Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to tell the people of the nation whether they support it,” he asked at a public meeting at L.B. Stadium, his second in Telangana in four days. The Prime Minister ac­ cused the Congress of “keeping quiet” whenever such statements were made

NEW DELHI

ZAHEERABAD/ HUZURNAGAR

Narendra Modi

and even when an NC MP had raised pro­Pakistan slo­ gans. “This kind of mindset, because of vote bank polit­ ics, has made the country weak,” he said. There are two family “political shops” in the form of the NC and the PDP in Kashmir and these parties have been holding “Delhi to ransom” but “as long as Mo­ di is there, he will not allow it to happen. This Modi will be a wall of protection bet­ ween the enemies of the na­ tion and the citizens of the country,” he said.

The Congress will spend 6% of the GDP on education if voted to power, party presi­ dent Rahul Gandhi said at an election rally on Monday. “The poor of this country need to dream big and their children will get the best of education as the govern­ ment will be committed to increasing the national share for education,” Mr. Gandhi said, addressing a series of campaign meetings for Congress candidates in Zaheerabad, Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda parliamen­ tary constituencies in Telangana. Mr. Gandhi faulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged backing of big businessmen. Targeting the Prime Mi­ nister, he said Mr. Modi was busy with surgical strikes on the poor, but the Congress

Rahul Gandhi

would be interested in surgi­ cal strikes on poverty. That thought had given birth to the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), he said, adding that every family that earns less than ₹12,000 will get ₹72,000 per year in their bank accounts. “I am not here to cheat you with slogans of transfer­ ring ₹15 lakh into your ac­ counts like Mr. Modi did, but I assure you that ₹3.6 lakh per annum will be in the ac­ counts of 5 crore families in the country,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Thushar to contest against Rahul

Cong. chief may file papers on Thursday

The BDJS leader was shifted from Thrissur to Wayanad nata Party (BJP )national leadership had offered him Thrissur, listed as one of the probable segments where the party could register an impressive performance, Mr. Thushar initially shied away from joining the race, citing various reasons.

N.J. Nair THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The dramatic entry of Con­ gress president Rahul Gandhi into the Wayanad Lok Sabha segment and the National Democratic Al­ liance’s decision to field Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) president Thushar Vellappally against him have propelled the fledgling party into national politics and enhanced its scope for bargaining within the alliance. Though the Bharatiya Ja­

BDJS’ grouse The main reason was re­ ported to be the grouse the BDJS nursed against the BJP leadership for failing to ho­ nour the commitments made to it while joining the

alliance. The decision to field Mr. Thushar in Waya­ nad was also aimed at per­ plexing the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam leadership that had lent support to the Left Demo­ cratic Front’s initiatives for conserving renaissance va­ lues post the Sabarimala ag­ itation led by the Sangh Pa­ rivar. Mr. Thushar is reported to have wrested some con­ crete assurances from the BJP leadership before tak­ ing the plunge.

A month ago, the Supreme Court accused the CBI of “dragging on” the appeals against the discharge of Ker­ ala Chief Minister in the SNC Lavalin corruption case. On Monday, the court itself de­ cided to adjourn the case un­ til after the summer vacation and the Lok Sabha election during April­May. This time, the CBI said it was “ready” to argue its case but a Bench, led by Justice N.V. Ramana, decided to def­ er the case, saying hearing it would take time. At the previous hearing on February 22, the Bench expressed its displeasure when Solicitor­General Tushar Mehta, for the CBI, sought an adjournment. He had asked the court to list the case on a non­miscel­ laneous day when fresh cas­ es would not be heard. The case was finally posted for the first week of April, days before the first phase of the general election beginning on April 11. The appeals have run into

Pinarayi Vijayan

continuous adjournments in the past several months. In its appeal, the CBI has con­ tended that Pinarayi Vijayan should face trial. The investi­ gation agency said Mr. Vi­ jayan had travelled to Cana­ da as a “guest” of Lavalin in 1997, when he was the State’s Power Minister. ‘Crucial decision’ It was there that he had made the “crucial” decision to promote Lavalin, a con­ sultancy firm retained on a fixed­rate basis, from consul­ tants to suppliers. The corruption case con­ cerns the loss of ₹86.25 crore

in the Kerala State Electrici­ ty Board’s contract with La­ valin for the renovation and modernisation of the Palliva­ sal, Sengulam and Panniar hydroelectric projects in Idukki district. The CBI said the Kerala High Court’s deci­ sion to discharge the Chief Minister was “not correct.” On August 23 last year, the High Court discharged Mr. Vijayan and former KSEB of­ ficers K. Mohanachandran and A. Francis. Mr. Mohanachandran is a former Principal Secretary, Department of Power, and Mr. Francis was the Joint Se­ cretary. However, three oth­ er accused — M. Kasthuriran­ ga Iyer, G. Rajasekharan Nair and R. Sivadasan — were asked to stand trial. Mr. Nair was then Member (Ac­ counts) of the KSEB, and Mr. Iyer was Chief Engineer (Generation). The accused who were ordered to stand trial have also appealed to the Supreme Court for pari­ ty of treatment. Their ap­ peals were also listed on Fri­ day along with the CBI’s appeal.

20 held in Kerala anti­child porn op

Staff Reporter

G. Anand

KALPETTA

Thiruvananthapuram

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to file his nomination for the Waya­ nad Lok Sabha constituen­ cy on Thursday, according to the latest official infor­ mation. Wayanad District Collector A.R. Ajayakumar says Mr. Gandhi will land in Kozhikode on Wednesday evening en route to Waya­ nad. His helicopter will land at the SKMJ high school ground here.

A covert cyber surveillance and infiltration operation initiated by the Kerala pol­ ice with the help of the In­ terpol in January to crack down on child pornography culminated on Monday with the arrest of 20 persons from different parts of the State. Additional Director Gen­ eral of Police, South­Zone, Manoj Abraham, who heads the anti­Child Sexual Ex­

ploitation Unit, told The Hindu that the police had registered 25 cases in con­ nection with the arrests that unfolded across Kerala ear­ ly on Sunday. The investigators used a special software provided by the Interpol, Argos, to launch the secret operation code­named P­Hunt. Police investigators and resource persons drawn from Kerala’s vast pool of IT experts hunched for nearly three months at the Cyber­

dome facility at the Techno­ park here to identify per­ sons who obsessively uploaded, swapped and traded child sexual abuse content on instant messag­ ing platforms, restricted chat rooms and Internet websites. Argos helped the police scour encrypted messaging groups created to furtively swap child porn, comb through the hidden matrix of the Darknet, and eaves­ drop on secret chatrooms.

#398299

Stars shine all over Mandya as electioneering picks up steam

Officer moved out of Mandya constituency

Darshan campaigns for Sumalatha, Nikhil for himself

special correspondent

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Bountiful grain

Mandya

M.T. Shiva Kumar Mandya

Electioneering in Mandya, which has seen the most heat among all the Lok Sab­ ha segments in Karnataka, got a celebrity touch on Monday with film personali­ ties campaigning all over the constituency. Kannada actor Darshan began campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party­sup­ ported Independent candi­ date Sumalatha, wife of the late actor­politician M.H. Ambareesh and a film perso­ nality herself. Hundreds of his fans followed his vehicle, fitted with loudspeakers blaring film songs, mainly from films of Ambareesh and those of Mr. Darshan himself. According to sources close to Ms. Sumalatha, Mr. Darshan and Yash, another popular actor, will campaign

Celebrity appeal: Actor Darshan campaigning for Sumalatha in Mandya district on Monday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *

across the constituency for the next 13 days. Actor­director Upendra, who floated his Uttama Pra­ jakeeya Party last year, cam­ paigned for party candidate Diwakar C.P. Gowda in Mad­ dur and Mandya on Monday. Hundreds of youngsters took selfies with him, raised slogans for his party, and fol­ lowed his car on motorcy­

cles on the Mandya­Maddur main road. Actor Nikhil K., the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from Mandya and son of Chief Mi­ nister H.D. Kumaraswamy, sought the support of voters in different parts of K.R. Pet taluk and Mandya town. His party blared songs from his films Jaguar and Seetharama Kalyana.

Close on the heels of Has­ san Deputy Commissioner Akram Pasha being trans­ ferred out, the Election Commission on Monday moved out the Chief Execu­ tive Officer of Mandya zilla panchayat in the hotly­con­ tested Mandya Lok Sabha constituency. Sources said that K. Ya­ lakkigowda was in charge of all the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation activities of the EC in the district, and more importantly, was the head of the model code of conduct committee, which monitors the violations of the model code. Incidentally, BJP­backed Independent candidate Su­ malatha had alleged that her opponent and JD(S) candidate Nikhil Kumaras­ wamy’s camp had been violating the model code.

A worker is gathering corn at Itavaram in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The introduction of new high yield hybrid seeds that can survive winter conditions and off­season diseases has made it a profitable alternative for small farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. V_RAJU. *

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4 from Telangana on ‘Mission Everest’

A cafe that will serve science hot

They are among 22 mountaineers who will attempt to scale the highest mountain

‘Café Scientifique’ is the first such initiative in Kerala

are at 7,500 meters and re­ turn to the base camp. The­ reafter, depending on the weather and our physical condition, we will head di­ rectly to the summit. Oxy­ gen cylinders will be used to support breathing,” Mr. Shekhar Babu said.

Staff Reporter HYDERABAD

Twenty­two mountaineers, including four from Telanga­ na, will attempt to scale Mt. Everest in two groups over an estimated two­month du­ ration. Their expedition will start on April 3 and 7 respective­ ly, said Shekhar Babu Bachi­ nepally, founder and direc­ tor of Transcend Adventures, on the sidelines of a press conference here on Monday. The 22 climbers and the ‘International Mt. Everest Expedition­2019’ project by the company will be led by Mr. Shekhar Babu. One team will climb the mountain from the South­ east Col route and another will take the North Col route. It takes around 10 to 12 days to reach the base CM YK

Tall task: The climbers who are part of the team which will attempt to scale Mt. Everest. NAGARA GOPAL *

camp. Thereafter, depend­ ing on the weather condi­ tions, they will have to cross four more camps, located at different heights, en route to the summit. To establish four camps and climb, it takes approxi­ mately 45 to 50 days. Most of them will travel

from high temperatures in the plain lands to freezing temperatures that drop to as low as minus 30 degrees C at Everest summit. “To acclimatise them to the high altitude, cold tem­ peratures and to the routes, the climbers will reach the camp 1 and camp 2 which

Route hazards Explaining the difference between North Col and South Col routes, he said, “The North side is technical­ ly difficult as compared to South Col, but chances of natural hazards are fewer. But one has to be technically and physically in peak form. Malavath Poorna, the youn­ gest girl to reach the sum­ mit, took that route in 2014, he added. The cost for the expedi­ tion works out to around ₹29 lakh per person.

E.M. MANOJ KALPETTA

Science is often seen as bor­ ing, difficult and mathemati­ cal for many, but a group of science experts of the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wil­ dlife Biology here are gear­ ing up to launch ‘Café Scien­ tifique’ to promote science among public in an interest­ ing way. Café Scientifique, the first such initiative in Kerala, en­ visages to bring science back into culture by demystifying scientific research for the public and empower non­ scientists to comfortably as­ sess science and technology issues, particularly those that impact social policy making, says C.K. Vishnu­ das, an ornithologist and di­ rector of the centre. Café Scientifique is a grassroots public science in­

will empower < > Itnon-scientists to comfortably assess science and technology issues, itiative based on the French Café Philosophique model. Originating in England, the concept quickly gained pop­ ularity and was taken to oth­ er countries. Similar but in­ dependent events have also sprung up in many cities us­ ing variations of the ‘Café Scientifique’ or ‘Science Ca­ fé’ monikers, Mr. Vishnudas says. “We are planning to or­ ganise meetings of science enthusiasts in the district ev­ ery month at a café or a con­ venient place, where one or more scientists are invited to talk to the public about new developments in science,” he said.

The project is also aimed at making science relevant, powerful and important to the public, especially youn­ ger generations. Various top­ ics such as universe, climate change, evolution, genetics and human­animal relations would be discussed in every monthly gathering. The first session will be in­ augurated by C. Balagopal , a starter mentor and a writer, with a special talk on “Science and Society” at the Cosmopolitan club auditori­ um here at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday. C. Sasikumar, an ornithologist and writer, will deliver the keynote ad­ dress. Karthika Chandran, a research scholar, will handle a session on ‘Multispecies as­ sociation in birds,’ a compa­ rative study between natural forest and shaded coffee plantations.

Vice­chairman of AgriGold Group dies Staff Reporter VIJAYAWADA

AgriGold Group of Compa­ nies vice­chairman Immadi Sadasiva Varaprasad, 70, reportedly died of cardiac arrest in Secunderabad on Monday. He was a resident of Vijayawada. Varaprasad, who was ar­ rested in AgriGold fraud along with others in the case, was out on bail. He went to Secundera­ bad in a train and collapsed near the railway station, the Gopalapuram police said. “We registered a case under Section.174 Cr.P.C. (suspicious death). The bo­ dy would be handed over to the family members af­ ter post­mortem on Tues­ day,” said Circle Inspector M. Niranjan Reddy. A ND-NDE

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6 NATION

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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IN BRIEF

Bihar Class XII topper a champion of challenges

Weather Watch Rainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Son of a driver and an Anganwadi worker, 17-year-old Pawan Kumar has scored 94.6% in science stream Amarnath Tewary Patna

‘Create an ecosystem for rural entrepreneurship’ BHUBANESWAR

Vice­President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday advocated for creating an ecosystem for entrepreneurship to thrive in rural India. “The possible way to address unemployment is to create the right ecosystem for youngsters to become entrepreneurs and set up their own businesses,” Mr. Naidu said addressing a summit here on “Empowering Young Grampreneurs to Create Jobs”. PTI

2 brothers on motorbike mowed down in U.P. PRATAPGARH (U.P.)

Two brothers were killed when their motorbike was hit by an unidentified vehicle in Hathigawan area of the district, the police said on Monday. The incident happened on Friday. The men who died on the spot were identified as Amit Yadav (21) and Ankit Yadav (23). PTI

There was a time when Pa­ wan Kumar, a resident of Kin­ jar­Ujjainpatti village in Ar­ wal district, was not sure if he would be able to pursue his studies any more. His un­ employed father was not well and his mother’s income as an Anganwadi worker was not enough to even feed a fa­ mily of nine members. But his fortune turned for the better and his father got a job as a driver with the police department in Jharkhand. Two years later, Pawan has topped the Bihar Interme­ diate examination (Class XII) in science stream with 94.6% marks. When his father was able to earn a steady income, Pa­

wan took a room on rent in the neighbouring district of Jehanabad to focus on his studies. “I used to study 10 hours daily, apart from at­ tending coaching classes,” he told The Hindu over phone. Mathematics is his favou­ rite subject. “I got 98 out of 100 in it,” he said. “I thought I could be among the top 10 students but when the results were an­ nounced, it was a real sur­ prise for me. I owe my suc­ cess to my parents and the teachers in my school and the coaching institute,” said the student of the Govern­ ment High School in Kinjar. Another student, Rohini Pra­ kash from Nalanda district, has also scored 473 out of 500 and shares the top posi­

grandparents at home. His sisters, too, are good in stu­ dies and preparing for com­ petitive examinations. “Toppers in all three streams — arts, science and commerce — will receive a cash prize of ₹1 lakh each, while students on the second and third positions will be gi­ ven ₹75,000 and ₹50,000 respectively, apart from a laptop and a Kindle E­read­ er,” Bihar School Examina­ tion Board chairman Anand Kishore said. Pawan’s father Sunil Ku­ mar said he is proud of his son’s achievement. “We come from a small village and have meagre income. Despite all odds, Pawan has done topped the exam. It is all because of his sustained

Pawan Kumar outside his home in Kinjar­Ujjainpatti village. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *

tion in the science stream with Pawan. Pawan, who is 17 years old, has three elder sisters, a younger brother, and ageing

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Testing times

Five-time MLA Dilip Sarkar passes away AGARTALA

CUTTACK

Eminent theatre organiser, playwright and economics teacher Kartik Chandra Rath passed away at his residence in Cuttack on Monday. He was 70. Rath is survived by his wife and three children. Family sources said Rath was unwell for the past few days. A recipient of Kendra Sangeet Natak Akademi award, Rath had penned over 100 plays and directed over 500 plays.

Couple, daughter-in-law run over by train in Bihar GAYA

CM YK

Army goal Pawan's mother Madhuri Sin­ ha said her son would be­ come an officer. His father wants Pawan join the Indian Administrative Service or In­ dian Police Service. When asked what he wants, Pawan said: “Since childhood, a sol­ dier’s life has been my pas­ sion. I want to become an Ar­ my officer. I would soon start preparation for the entrance examination of National De­ fence Academy.” A total of 13.15 lakh stu­ dents appeared in the Inter­ mediate exam this year, of whom 10.19 lakh passed. The pass percentage this year has improved significantly from 52.71 of last year to 79.76.

SYED SAJJAD ALI

Renowned dramatist Kartik Rath dies at 70

An elderly couple and their 21­year­old daughter­in­law were run over by a train here following which angry locals squatted on the tracks and disrupted rail traffic for a couple of hours on Monday morning, the police said. The mishap happened at Ismailpur railway station. PTI

hard work,” he said.

Thumb rules: Election officials demonstrating the functioning of an electronic voting machine and a VVPAT for workers of a tea garden in Jorhat district of Assam on Monday. RITU RAJ KONWAR *

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Dilip Sarkar (62), former Tripura Minister and five­ time MLA from Badharghat in Agartala, died early on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was undergoing treatment at a private hos­ pital in New Delhi and was put on ventilation a few days ago. He was declared dead at around 3 a.m., said his family members. Sarkar was a briefly a Mi­ nister during the Congress­ Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti coalition government in 1988. He joined the BJP be­ fore the February 2018 As­ sembly elections which ended the 20­year rule of the CPI(M)­led Left Front in the State. Tripura Governor Kap­ tan Singh Solanki, Chief Mi­ nister Biplab Kumar Deb and many others expressed condolences on his demise.

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Tuesday: Heat wave likely at some/isolated places over Marathwada, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhat­ tisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu. Thunder­ storm accompanied with gusty winds & lightning likely at isolated places over West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Kerala city rain max min Agartala.............72.2.... 30.2.... 17.4 Ahmedabad............ —.... 41.3.... 23.2 Aizawl .

city rain max min Kozhikode . ............. —.... 35.5.... 26.8 Kurnool . ................. —.... 41.2.... 28.8 —.... 29.2.... 17.6 Lucknow.................. —.... 35.6.... 16.6 Allahabad .............. —.... 38.7.... 20.7 Madurai. ................. —.... 40.0.... 24.4 Bengaluru .............. —.... 36.0.... 22.9 Mangaluru . ............. —.... 35.2.... 25.6 Bhopal. —.... 38.4.... 22.0 Mumbai................... —.... 32.0.... 21.8 Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 36.2.... 23.2 Mysuru. .................. —.... 36.5.... 21.6 Chandigarh ............ —.... 31.5.... 17.4 New Delhi . ............. —.... 33.7.... 17.6 Chennai ................. —.... 37.0.... 26.7 Patna . .................... —.... 33.4.... 21.2 Coimbatore............ —.... 39.0.... 24.6 Port Blair . .............. —.... 32.4.... 23.4 Dehradun. —.... 32.1.... 15.1 Puducherry.............. —.... 35.8.... 26.2 Gangtok...............6.8.... 16.8...... 9.9 Pune . ..................... —.... 39.3.... 19.0 Goa . —.... 33.5.... 25.0 Raipur ..................... —.... 39.4.... 25.2 Guwahati ...........32.4.... 27.2.... 17.6 Ranchi. ................... —.... 36.7.... 22.0 Hubballi................. —.... 35.0.... 23.0 Shillong. ................. —.... 21.4.... 14.2 Hyderabad ...........0.3.... 40.2.... 26.7 Shimla. ................... —.... 22.0.... 11.6 Imphal. —.... 28.8.... 14.7 Srinagar .................. —.... 23.1...... 5.3 Jaipur . —.... 37.3.... 20.7 TrivandrumYesterday ............. —.... 36.0.... 26.6 CITIES SO 2 NO 2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE Kochi. —.... 34.4.... 28.0 Ahmedabad. 20 .99 34 .................... —.... 41.0.... 24.8 Tiruchi observation made at ..201 .....— ....* Kohima. —.... 20.0....In11.3 4.00 p.m., Varanasi, Uttar Bengaluru . ..2 .25 60 Vijayawada .............. —.... 37.8.... 26.2 Pradesh recorded an overall ..178 .....— ....* Kolkata. —.... 32.1....air24.1 quality index (AQI) score Chennai . 12 .22 57 of 230 indicating an 27.8 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 33.4.... unhealthy level of pollution. ..208 .....— ....* (Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius) In contrast, Guwahati Delhi . 25 .44 26 recorded a healthy AQI Pollutants in the air you ..200 .277are....breathing * score of 51 Hyderabad . ..9 .26 27 ....93 .138 ....* Kolkata . ..2 .26 14 ....59 ...73 ....* Lucknow . 13 224 68 ..141 .....— ....* Mumbai . 37 ...3 69 ....32 ...88 ....* Pune. 29 .14 32 ....84 ...93 ....* Visakhapatnam 16 .47 39 . — .124 ....* Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI) SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters. CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death. PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease

A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

NATION 7

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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INTERVIEW |H.D. DEVE GOWDA

‘It is important to convince people that we can give a stable government’ BJP has no moral right to criticise parties coming together under a common umbrella, says former Prime Minister, citing its ties with Shiv Sena and AIADMK Bageshree S. Muralidhara Khajane

for the post he is holding.

Exuding confidence that the Opposition alliance will come to­ gether after victory in the Lok Sabha election, Janata Dal (S) patriarch and one of the architects of the Mahagathbandhan, H.D. Deve Gowda says the BJP’s references to ‘mahamilavat’ reveal its desperation.

But has it succeeded in stemming what some thought was building up to an ‘anti-Modi’ wave?

It is precisely because he is seeing this kind of a wave himself that Mr. Modi is try­ ing to push a nationalist agenda. But people will not be carried away by theatrics. Mr. Modi refuses to reply on the Rafale deal in the Parlia­ ment. Does it not show peo­ ple that Mr. Modi has so­ mething to hide?

■

Do you think air strikes post-Pulwama and the ASAT test have shifted the poll narrative to security and nationalism and therefore, in favour of the BJP? ■ Exploiting the achieve­ ments of the Indian Army or Indian scientists is a heinous crime. No Prime Minister of independent India has claimed credit for such feats

in the past. During the Indo­ Pak. conflict, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conducted herself with remarkable dig­ nity. Atal Bihari Vajpayee car­ ried out India’s second nu­ clear test at Pokhran and brought Pakistan to its knees in the decisive Kargil war. But never did they claim cre­ dit the way Mr. Modi is doing now. The tone and tenor of Mr. Modi does not augur well

What is your counternarrative?

Modi is trying to < > Mr. push a nationalist agenda but people will not be carried away by theatrics. Congress and JD(S) in Kar­ nataka will raise issues of un­ employment, rural distress, destabilising constitutional ■

institutions, misuse of offices of the Central Bureau of In­ vestigation and the like. Search and seizure operation by I­T [officials] on those said to be linked to JD(S) and Con­ gress, when polls to the Lok Sabha are round the corner, is testimony to Mr. Modi’s vendetta politics. No Prime Minister in independent In­ dia had stooped this low.

together of parties under a common umbrella. Have they not aligned with region­ al parties like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu or Shiv Sena in Maharashtra? As Prime Minister, Mr. Modi should maintain a certain de­ corum while speaking. This language comes out of desperation.

BJP leaders are terming the Mahagathbandhan the ‘Tukde-Tukde gang’, ‘Mahamilawat’ etc, pointing to a lack of cohesion.

But there are strains and opposing pulls within the formation.

BJP primarily has no moral right to criticise the coming ■

It was JD(S) which initiated the process of mahagath­ bandhan by bringing togeth­ er all anti­Modi and anti­BJP ■

forces in the country during the oath­taking ceremony of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaras­ wamy. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandra­ babu Naidu tried his best to stitch an alliance between the Congress and other anti­ BJP parties. But some anti­ BJP parties are preparing a solo fight in their own States. This cannot be construed as tukde­tukde (bits and piec­ es). This is nothing but an at­ tempt by the BJP to humiliate regional parties for which they will pay a price. As far as I am concerned I will sup­ port any regional party which opposes BJP.

Do you think people will trust the alliance as a possible national alternative, despite disappointments in the past? ■ Parties opposed to Mr. Mo­ di in each State will naturally have their own plans. After the polls, they would decide on the leadership. I have ap­ pealed to them in the past and will appeal to them again that the most important thing is to convince people that we can give a stable go­ vernment for five years. I am optimistic. Full interview at http:// bit.ly/DeveGowdaInterview

April, May to be warmer than normal, says IMD

IN BRIEF

Central and northwest India may bear the brunt Geelani’s Delhi property attached for tax default

Jacob Koshy NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI

The Income Tax Department has attached a property of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani located in New Delhi, against dues of ₹3.62 crore. The department, on Friday, sent Mr. Geelani an order for the attachment of immovable property, saying that he was prohibited from transferring the property in Khirki Extension, Malviya Nagar.

U.P. police bust gang that duped online buyers NOIDA

India gets surveillance satellite EMISAT will add teeth to the armed forces by providing info on hostile radars Madhumathi D.S. Bengaluru

The Uttar Pradesh police’s Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the kingpin of a gang that procured data of 14 lakh customers illegally and allegedly duped people to the tune of ₹200 crore through online fraud. Nandan Rao Patel, arrested here on Saturday, procured the data of clients of major online shopping companies and sold them to fake call centres, police officials said. PTI

ED seizes ₹89 cr. assets in investment scam NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth about ₹89 crore in connection with a case allegedly involving the Micro Finance group of companies and others. It is alleged that Micro Finance Ltd and others earned huge money by making false promises of high returns on investment in various schemes. Its MD Durga Prasad Mishra and others allegedly laundered the funds.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the country’s first electronic surveillance satel­ lite, EMISAT, from Srihariko­ ta in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday morning. As many as 28 small satel­ lites of international custom­ ers were also put in space as secondary riders. Space­based electronic in­ telligence or ELINT from the 436­kg spacecraft will add teeth to situational aware­ ness of the armed forces as it will provide location and in­ formation of hostile radars placed at the borders; this will be another dimension to the current land or aircraft­ based ELINT, according to

‘3 more satellites needed’ Special correspondent BENGALURU

Nobody who has it talks about it and no one else is sure about its actual numbers. But space­based electronic intelligence, the realm that India just forayed into with EMISAT, is said to have been around since the early 1960s, pioneered by the U.S. At least three other space powers are said to be past masters at it — the U.S.

as the leader is said to be having fifth­generation ELINT satellites; Russia is not far behind. Then comes China. Around 150 military satellites may be hovering over Earth right now. According to a few present and former defence scientists, one satellite for ELINT will not suffice and the country may need to have at least three more working in tandem.

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defence experts who did not wish to be named. ISRO, which is said to have built the satellite body for the DRDO payload, merely said

the spacecraft would mea­ sure the electromagnetic spectrum. Once the last cu­ besat came out, ISRO Chair­ man K. Sivan announced:

‘Nirav tried to get Vanuatu citizenship’

Coronary stents to cost more

Bottle hurled at BJP candidate

His request was rejected: ED sources

Special Correspondent

RAMANATHAPURAM

special correspondent

A man hurled an empty glass bottle at the campaign van of Nainar Nagendran, the BJP candidate for the Ramanatha­ puram Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu. This led to tension in the Muslim­dominated Periyapattinam. While Mr. Nagendran escaped unhurt, an AIADMK functionary was injured. The miscreant could not be identified. Anticipating trouble in the area, the police stepped up bandobust.

Jet fuel price up by 1%, LPG cost goes up by ₹5 NEW DELHI

Jet fuel price was on Monday hiked by over 1 %, the second straight monthly increase coming on the back of firming global prices. The price of aviation turbine fuel was hiked by ₹677.1 per kilolitre, or 1.07%, to ₹63,472.22 per kl. The price of non­ subsidised cooking gas was increased by ₹5 per 14.2 kg cylinder. It now costs ₹706.50 in capital. PTI

NEW DELHI

Nirav Modi, the Punjab Na­ tional Bank fraud case ac­ cused, had applied for citi­ zenship of Vanuatu, a South Pacific Ocean nation located close to Australia. However, the Vanuatuan authorities turned down his request submitted in De­ cember 2017, said the Enfor­ cement Directorate (ED) sources. “A week ago, we were informed about it,” said a senior official on con­ dition of anonymity. Indian agencies have also found out that after the Cen­ tral Bureau of Investigation and the ED registered cases against Mr. Modi and others, he made 12 employees oper­ ating from Dubai and Hong Kong shift to Cairo, in the name of lucrative prospects. “The employees had been made dummy direc­ tors in the shell companies controlled by him abroad,”

Nirav Modi

the official said. They were kept in confinement in two bungalows in the suburbs of Cairo for about four­five months. On the pretext of arranging jobs for them, their passports were taken away by Mr. Modi’s close as­ sociate Subhash Parab. Mr. Modi had allegedly got the mobile phones of these em­ ployees destroyed. Over a period of time, 11 employees managed to fly out of Cairo. The ED has re­ corded the statements of nine, while two are now said to be in Dubai.

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“Today PSLV­C45 has suc­ cessfully injected the ISRO­ made EMISAT in a 748­km orbit as well as 28 customer satellites in a 504­km orbit as sought by the customers.” An ISRO release said that as EMISAT came out, “[Its] two solar arrays were de­ ployed automatically. The IS­ RO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network at Ben­ galuru assumed control of the satellite. In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final opera­ tional configuration.” A new PSLV team execut­ ed the mission as the pre­ vious programme head R. Hutton has moved to the headquarters in Bengaluru as the director of the Human Space Flight Centre.

Citizens heading out to vote during the Lok Sabha elec­ tion will have to brace for hotter weather. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the aver­ age maximum temperatures from April to June are likely to be warmer by half a de­ gree in several places in cen­ tral and northwest India. “The season averaged maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than normal by 0.5C­1C over Ha­ ryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, west & east Uttar Pradesh, west & east Rajasthan, west

& east Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Ma­ rathwada, coastal Karnata­ ka, north interior Karnata­ ka, Rayalaseema and Telangana. Himachal Pra­ desh, Uttarakhand, Sub Hi­ malayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Assam and Megha­ laya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizo­ ram & Tripura are likely to be warmer than normal by more than 1C,” the IMD said in a statement on Tuesday. The forecast is in line with the IMD’s position in March, when it said March­May

Fugitive Offenders Act won’t help banks: Mallya

would be “warmer” than normal. ‘Normal’ tempera­ tures refer to the mean tem­ peratures during these months between 1981 and 2010. El Nino impact The El Niño, an anomalous heating of the Central Pacific that occurs once in three­ five years and linked to droughts in India, may be playing a role. “Current ob­ servations suggest weak El Niño conditions. The latest forecast indicates that these conditions are likely to per­ sist during April­June,” the statement added.

U.S. modifies Zika advisory special correspondent

special correspondent Mumbai

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s lawyer on Monday reiterat­ ed before the Bombay High Court that the Fugitive Eco­ nomic Offenders Act (FEOA) was a draconian law that wouldn’t help the creditors. Pressing an appeal by Mr. Mallya against being de­ clared a FEO, senior counsel

Amit Desai told a division bench of Justices I. Mahanty and A.M. Badar that confis­ cation of properties was “draconian.” “The need of the hour is to deal with the banks and creditors. He [Mr. Mallya] does not want the properties to be returned to him but confiscation is not going to solve the banks’ problems,” Mr. Desai said.

New Delhi

The U.S. has ‘softened’ and modified its Zika virus alert for travellers to India, changing the status from “ongoing outbreak” to “current or past transmis­ sion but no current out­ break” after the Health Mi­ nistry intervened. “As of now, no cases are preva­ lent,” an ICMR official said.

Despite objections, SSC chief given extension RTI finds retrospective change in rules

New Delhi

Special Correspondent

The National Pharmaceuti­ cal Pricing Authority (NPPA) has approved a hike in the price of coronary stents, with the bare metal stents now priced at ₹8,261 (exclusive of GST) as against the existing ₹7,660. Drug eluting/biodegrada­ ble stents cost ₹30,080 (ex­ clusive of GST) as against ₹27,890. The revised prices have come into effect from April 1. The new prices have been fixed after taking into account the wholesale price index at 4.2%, ac­ cording to the notification. Last year, the Central go­ vernment slashed rates of coronary stents by up to 85%. Sources in the medical device industry said, “The increase in prices indicates that the NPPA is mindful of the operational pressures in the medical device in­ dustry.”

NEW DELHI

Staff Selection Commission chairman Ashim Khurana, whose resignation was de­ manded by students due to alleged paper leaks last year, was given an extension of tenure through a retros­ pective amendment of rules. The extension was ap­ proved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite mul­ tiple written objections from the Law Ministry and the Union Public Service Commission, recent replies to RTI queries show. The PM’s noting on the file was withheld from the RTI applicant on the grounds that it is confidential. Sharing the RTI docu­ ments at a press briefing on Monday, Yuva Halla Bol leader Anupam alleged that “by extending Mr. Khura­ na’s tenure illegally and un­ constitutionally, the PM is granting patronage to cor­

ruption in the nation’s lar­ gest recruitment agency.” ‘Thousands jobless’ Mr. Khurana did not res­ pond to The Hindu’s ques­ tions regarding these allega­ tions, despite attempts to reach him via phone and email. “The CBI investiga­ tion into the paper leaks is still not complete, and thou­ sands of students are job­ less, but the PM is only keen to protect the job of Mr. Khurana,” said Kanhaiya Ku­ mar, a 23­year old from Bi­ har’s Vaishali district who filed the RTI requests. He was among the almost 1.9 lakh young people who attempted the second round of the Combined Graduate Level examination conduct­ ed by the SSC last February to fill just over 9,000 vacan­ cies. Alleged paper leak and mass cheating resulted in the exam being suspended and aspirants protesting on the streets.

Leopard cub rescued from Mumbai suburb Ajeet Mahale Ankur Biplav Mumbai

Morning scare: Forest officials shifting the leopard cub from a building in the Mumbai suburbs on Monday. VIJAY BATE *

CM YK

A leopard cub which had en­ tered a residential building called Woodland Crest in Marol, a Mumbai suburb on Monday morning, was res­ cued by forest officials after four hours of struggle. The big cat was first spot­ ted in the adjoining build­ ing, Woodland Avenue, around 9.30 a.m. “I was tak­

ing a photo of a car, when I saw a creature, which I as­ sumed was a stray dog. When I tried to shoo it away, the creature came out, and then I realised that it was a leopard,” Suresh Shinde, a resident of the building, said. Mr. Shinde raised an alarm. The building’s watch­ man, Mohit Lal, said he tried to hit the leopard with a stick to shoo it away, after

which it jumped into Woo­ dland Crest. A team from the Forest Department and Sanjay Gandhi National Park ar­ rived around 11.30 a.m. and after hours of effort, the leo­ pard was tranquillised around 2 p.m. The operation was com­ pleted by 2.15 p.m. “The cub should be released into the wild by Tuesday,” a forest of­ ficial said later. A ND-NDE

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8 EDITORIAL

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Ensuring access to justice Foggy in Wayanad

R

ahul Gandhi’s decision to choose Wayanad in Kerala, in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, to contest, could well be a defining moment in this election. Though Wayanad was under consideration for at least two weeks, the decision was nonetheless sur­ prising as his principal opponent would be, not his na­ tional­level ideological rival the BJP, but a party of the Left, which is in the forefront of the fight for a secular al­ ternative to the ruling formation. This paradox could turn out to be a central challenge in the emergence of a national coalition against the BJP because many parties that are opposed to the BJP are also opposed to one another. Mr. Gandhi’s gambit amplifies that contradic­ tion and marks a rupture between the Congress and the Left Front — fierce opponents in Kerala, but natural partners at the Centre. The national leadership of the Congress had kept an arm’s length from the highly com­ petitive politics in Kerala, where its State unit and the Left are face to face. The exigencies of national politics shape their cooperation elsewhere. Only recently, on Mr. Gandhi’s watch, the Congress was in seat­sharing talks with the Left in West Bengal. Though the Congress has said Mr. Gandhi’s candidature is not against the Left, the latter has been brutal in its reaction. The Con­ gress claimed the foray signalled Mr. Gandhi’s commit­ ment to all regions. But the choice of Kerala, rather than Karnataka, where the Congress is locked in a direct bat­ tle with the BJP, is difficult to explain. If the Left frontal­ ly attacked the Congress, the BJP was disparaging. Amit Shah remarked Mr. Gandhi feared he would be held ac­ countable by Amethi’s voters; and Narendra Modi, in a statement with communal overtones, said Mr. Gandhi chose the seat because Hindus were in a minority there. By fielding Mr. Gandhi from Wayanad, the Congress has taken a view that considerations of alliances are now secondary to its push to maximise its individual tally. The Congress has strong alliances in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Bihar but a shaky one in Karnataka. Its U.P. ambitions were rejected by the SP­BSP axis; and differences persist within the party on aligning with the AAP in Delhi. After the 2004 elections, the Congress be­ came the fulcrum of a national coalition, which was bound by a broad commitment to a pluralist India, as opposed to Hindutva’s exclusivist and majoritarian pol­ itics. The Left had a significant role in its formation but ended the experiment in 2008 over differences with the Congress on the nuclear deal. State­level compul­ sions have led regional parties to cross from the BJP to the Congress and vice versa, but the primary fault­line is political mobilisation along religious lines. Without clarity of concept on addressing this fault­line, there can be no effective cooperation among non­BJP parties. Though it is unfair to put the entire onus of aggregating non­BJP politics on Mr. Gandhi, his candidacy in Waya­ nad can do nothing for the larger secular cause.

Space for campaign EC went by rule book on ASAT issue, but PM should have upheld the spirit of Model Code

I

n ruling that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not violate the Model Code of Conduct by announcing through a nationally televised address the demon­ stration of India’s capability to bring down an opera­ tional satellite, the Election Commission has taken a possibly correct view of the Code’s provisions. Howev­ er, it remains a narrow technical view as it is a thin line that divides the idea of making a high­level declaration of a defence capability from using it for electoral advan­ tage. Opposition parties had accused the Prime Minis­ ter of violating the Model Code by touting the demon­ stration of the anti­satellite (ASAT) missile test as a significant achievement of the ruling BJP. CPI(M) gener­ al secretary Sitaram Yechury had formally complained to the EC. There were questions about the timing of the test as well as the manner of announcement as the country is in election mode. A five­member committee formed by the EC concluded that the relevant provision was not attracted in this case. Part VII of the Code co­ vering the “party in power” says that “…the misuse of official mass media during the election period for parti­ san coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.” The committee’s finding that there was no “misuse of offi­ cial mass media” as Doordarshan and AIR took the feed from a news agency, and more than 60 channels did the same, is rooted in the letter of the code, not its spirit. It is possible to come to an equally valid conclusion that Mr. Modi’s action in making the announcement himself, rather than letting the DRDO, the agency in­ volved, do so violates the bar on “furthering the pros­ pects” of the ruling party by the nature of the publicity given to the achievement. The practice of using a priv­ ate agency to record the announcement and asking it to share the feed , obliquely serves the purpose of generat­ ing publicity through the official media. As the legal maxim goes, what cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly either. Given that Mr. Modi gave ad­ vance publicity to the announcement, there is really no virtue in claiming that DD and AIR were not used for the purpose. As a landmark achievement in defence re­ search, it deserved a public pronouncement at a high level. Even then, letting the DRDO explain the achieve­ ment first would have served the purpose. That the mo­ tive was to proclaim the ASAT demonstration as an achievement of the regime in the field of national secur­ ity became obvious when it was propagated by the rul­ ing party that its predecessor did not have the political will to approve such a test. The BJP must demonstrate it will not use such achievements for partisan advantage. CM YK

Ruma Pal

T

he justice system in any de­ mocracy is set up, under the Constitution to serve the pu­ blic without “fear or favour, affec­ tion or ill­will” as far as judges are concerned. Yet the protagonists, as far as India is concerned, in op­ erating the system have stopped that very access — judges through lack of prescience, and many la­ wyers through their dishonesty in many forms. Revisiting judges’ advice At an informal meeting, all of the then sitting judges of the Supreme Court (including myself ) advised the then Chief Justice of India to decide against the request of the then Central government to sit in other places in the country under Article 130 of the Constitution. The reason we ( judges) decided against it was because we felt that the authority of the Supreme Court would get diluted. The rea­ soning, in retrospect, was falla­ cious. Many High Courts in this country have different Benches for meting out justice without ‘justice’ being ‘diluted’. For example, the Bombay High Court has four Benches — in Mumbai, Auranga­ bad, Nagpur and Panaji (Goa) — and the quality of its decisions or status have certainly not been di­ luted thereby. The number of Benches de­ pends on the size of the State, the idea being to facilitate easier ac­ cess to justice. The direct conse­ quence of the wrong decision has been three­fold. First, the Su­

vices and render services free of cost. They generally obtain a blank cheque from the victim which is filled in after credit of the compen­ sation to the bank account of the victim. Victims who open bank ac­ counts for the purpose of victim compensation are being duped by some of the lawyers who link their or their assistant’s mobile number to the account so that they can have access to all the information of the transactions in the bank ac­ count. Some of the lawyers specia­ lising in victim compensation cas­ es thus take huge money as a percentage of compensation amount awarded towards victim compensation. Such a practice is frustrating the whole purpose of victim compensation. The proce­ dure is similar to that adopted by some advocates dealing with Mo­ tor Accident Claim Cases under Section 166 (application for com­ pensation) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. They agree to conduct the cases without a fee, but in the event of compensation being granted by the court, the advo­ cates get a certain percentage. This is illegal, being a champer­ tous agreement. In some cases, as soon as an award of victim compensation is

Unethical lawyers But the fault in actually denying access to justice to citizens is the fault of unethical lawyers alone. That lawyers are generally dishon­ est is a well­known fact. Lawyers are (frequently) humorously called liars, and because they are the middle­men between judges and the litigating public, they act like dishonest brokers. That is why William Shakespeare said, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the la­ wyers” (Henry VI). This is a some­ what unfair condemnation of those lawyers who are persons of high principles. Some of the lawyers specialising in victim compensation cases do not charge any fees for their ser­

made by any Legal Services Auth­ ority (LSA), a statutory body to render free legal services to the impoverished all over India, the la­ wyer gets in touch with the victim and somehow convinces him/her to file a writ petition before the High Court to show that without such writ petition the compensa­ tion will not be disbursed by the State LSA (SLSA). Ultimately when the amount of compensation is fi­ nally disbursed by the SLSA, the lawyer takes credit and shows that it was because of his noble initia­ tive that the victim got the relief, and in exchange claims a hefty share in the compensation. Such lawyers effectively create a per­ ception of rendering a benevolent service by not charging any fees so the victim could never suspect him/her of any malpractice. Inci­ dentally, according to a study car­ ried out by a research organisa­ tion, Vidhi, in the Delhi High Court, more than 70% of the de­ lays in the disposal of cases are at­ tributable to lawyers, a major rea­ son being sometimes unjust pleas for adjournments. The litigating public and la­ wyers (including women and stu­ dents) — either because they do not trust the judicial system or they distrust lawyers in particular, or for whatever reason — write hundreds of letters to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Jus­ tices and Justices of each High Court for relief. Some issues raised in these letters are administrative or statutory in nature. Apart from these letters, hundreds of letters are written to Chief Justices for re­ lief on the judicial side. Given the huge workload before all judges, it is not possible to deal with all let­ ter­appeals simultaneously on the statutory, administrative or judi­ cial side, unless they are drawn

specifically to the Justices’ atten­ tion. Unfortunately the disciplin­ ary powers available to Bar Coun­ cils both in Delhi and in States are more often than not ineffective. Some are politically motivated and some States do not have disciplin­ ary committees at all. The disci­ plinary jurisdiction over lawyers was originally with the courts. As far as the older High Courts are concerned, this is clear from the respective Letters Patents under which the courts were set up. This continued till the power was taken away by the Advocates Act, 1961. Significantly, the Law Minister at that time was Ashoke Sen, a well­ known lawyer. The solution to the present situation is to give the dis­ ciplinary jurisdiction back to the courts and to repeal the Advocates Act, 1961. The way forward Therefore, to hound out the cor­ rupt lawyers from the system at all levels so that justice may be truly rendered to the public, I have a few suggestions. First, the Su­ preme Court should reconsider setting up Benches in different States in keeping with the recom­ mendations of the Law Commis­ sions (125th Report and 229th Re­ port). Second, the Bar Council of India should exercise its powers under the Advocates Act, 1961 more effectively. If not, the disci­ plinary jurisdiction must be re­ turned to the judiciary as was the position prior to the Advocates Act, 1961 by repealing the 1961 Act. Third, lawyers should be made ir­ relevant by referring more cases to trained mediators, as the Supreme Court has done in the Ayodhya dispute. Ruma Pal is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India (2000-2006)

Deepening insecurity The buzz around ‘Mission Shakti’ should be an opportunity to review India’s defence strategy is the basis of this belief? And does it actually work? For more than 100 years now, scientists and writers of science fiction alike have fostered the illu­ sion that some day humankind will have a weapon so terrible that the fear of its impact will end war for all times. #398299

Rajni Bakshi

A

fter ‘Mission Shakti’ — In­ dia’s anti­satellite test — there is a feeling that India needs this form of deterrence for its security. To be visibly strong in order to deter any enemy from at­ tacking is a concern that goes back to pre­historic times. But when this ancient urge is exerted by na­ tions with nuclear weapons, it must be an occasion to revisit the arms race, the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine and their long­term implications. The doctrine emerged during the Cold War in the mid­20th cen­ tury when the U.S. and the erst­ while U.S.S.R. had stockpiled so many nuclear weapons that if launched, the weapons could des­ troy both nations many times over. Since there was eventually a ‘détente’, or a relaxation of hostil­ ities between the two, it is tempt­ ing to think that MAD is a valid doctrine that should continue to be applied by all countries with nuclear weapons capability. What

Deterrence and violence Having invented dynamite and un­ leashed it upon the world in 1867, Alfred Nobel believed that “the day when two army corps can an­ nihilate each other in one second, all civilized nations, it is to be hoped, will recoil from war and discharge their troops”. Since then incalculably more destructive weapons, including nuclear bombs and chemical wea­ pons, have been deployed but this has not ended war. On the con­ trary, the invention of increasingly deadly weapons has fuelled a glo­ bal arms race. Globally, the annual spend on armaments is now estimated to stand at about $1.7 trillion. Esti­ mates of the total number of nu­ clear weapons in the world range from 15,000 to 20,000, with each one of these weapons being far more powerful than the bombs dropped by the U.S. on Japan in 1945. The U.S. and Russia still

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Rahul from Wayanad That the complexity of political alliances varies from State to State has always been an acceptable norm but the candidature of Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the Wayanad constituency in Kerala has kicked up a controversy and given the ammunition­starved BJP something to deride the Opposition about. While the barbed criticism of the Left is justifiable, the Congress should not allow things to go out of control as the BJP is always on the lookout for a fallout amongst the Opposition parties (Page 1, “Left unhappy as Congress says Rahul will contest Wayanad too”, April 1). It is imperative that the Congress and the Left sort out their differences and concentrate on the task at hand — to stop the BJP’s from getting another term. G.B. Sivanandam, Coimbatore

Opportunism and politics go hand in hand and it is no ■

maintain about 1,800 nuclear wea­ pons in a state of high alert, ready for launch within minutes. According to the Global Peace Index, in 2017, the economic im­ pact of violence globally was esti­ mated at about $14.76 trillion, which was 12.4% of global GDP. Since 2012, there has been a 16% increase in the economic impact of violence largely due to the con­ flicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is vital to note that having competing weapons, in terms of quality and quantity, has not acted as a deterrent either in the Israeli­ Palestinian conflict or in the Syr­ ian war or the prolonged conflict in Colombia. What did finally end the conflict in Colombia, after al­ most 50 years, was a protracted process of negotiation between all parties of the conflict. The Global Peace Index also shows that over the last 70 years the per capita GDP growth has

been three times higher in more peaceful countries. This is partly why, compared to 10 years ago, 102 nations are spending less on military as a percentage of their GDP. But that is a thin silver lining to a grim reality. Ban Ki­moon, while he was UN Secretary General, said, in 2009, “The world is over­ armed and peace is under­funded …. The end of the Cold War has led the world to expect a massive peace dividend. Yet, there are over 20,000 nuclear weapons around the world. Many of them are still on hair­trigger alert, threatening our own survival.” According to the website of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the fai­ lure of the nuclear powers to dis­ arm has heightened the risk that other countries will acquire nu­ clear weapons. In 2017, the ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Double-edged sword Theoretically, MAD is supposed to eliminate the incentive for starting a conflict but it also makes disarm­ ing almost impossible. This is part­ ly why, long after the Cold War ended, the U.S. is poised to spend enormous amounts of money over the next 10 years in updating and

modernising its nuclear arsenal. The tragic irony of this trend is that nuclear defence, particularly with warheads riding on rockets of supersonic speed, actually dee­ pens insecurity in both countries by causing millions of lives to per­ petually be at the risk of instanta­ neous annihilation. All through the Cold War and even now, the MAD doctrine has been opposed on both moral and practical grounds by a variety of disarmament and peace groups. The most prominent of these, War Resisters’ International (WRI), which will turn 100 in 2021, has 90 affiliated groups in 40 countries. Such groups ceaselessly serve as a counter to all those who glamorise or justify war or an arms race. Above all, they constantly draw at­ tention to the fact that the only true security lies in dissolving en­ mity by going to the roots of any conflict. Once the joy about India’s technological achievements, in the realm of missiles, has settled down, perhaps attention can shift to the much bigger challenge of seeking answers to a key question: what really makes us, the world a whole, more secure? Rajni Bakshi is the author of ‘Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi’

Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

surprise that Mr. Gandhi is looking at another seat. However, one is surprised by the indignation being expressed by rival politicians. When the Prime Minister chose to contest from Vadodara and Varanasi in 2014, it was hailed as a masterstroke. But when Mr. Gandhi does it now, it is called desperation. Finally, the Election Commission must explore the possibility of recovering the cost of the second election in either one of the constituencies in the event of the candidate winning in both. It does impose a wasteful expenditure of public funds. Anand Aravamudhan, Chennai

The move is a blunder as it sends the message that the Congress is not secular. The point is that in north India, the Congress follows the same Hindutva agenda that the BJP does. The way the Congress is campaigning in Uttar Pradesh is an indication of this. Contesting from Wayanad will result in a contest with the LDF, which ■

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Kerala opens up fault­lines in the anti­BJP front

preme Court sitting only in Delhi has resulted in excellent lawyers from other High Courts not ap­ pearing before the Supreme Court, possibly because it casts too large a monetary burden on their clients, many of whom are impoverished. Second, all la­ wyers, whatever their calibre or competence, who happen to be in Delhi now appear in the Supreme Court. Some of the good lawyers who were able to leave lucrative practices in the High Courts have settled down in Delhi, but they have established a monopoly, and, as a result, charge unconscionable fees even from charitable con­ cerns — sometimes even when they do not appear at the hearing. This is also true of litigating la­ wyers at all levels of the judicial system. The third fallout of the fai­ lure to act under Article 130 is that the Supreme Court in Delhi has been flooded with work and been reduced to a District Court instead of a Court of Final Appeal and Con­ stitutional Court as envisaged un­ der the Constitution.

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

The Supreme Court must set up more Benches, and disciplinary jurisdiction over lawyers must go back to the judiciary

is a supporter of a secular dispensation at the Centre. The Kerala PCC’s enthusiasm after the announcement is to hide or end the groupism with the State Congress unit.

■ The decision is a clear indication of the fear of defeat in the Congress party. There can be no comparison with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to contest from two seats in 2014. He was a first­timer with no traditional Lok Sabha seat. Only time will tell whether the Left in Kerala will play a friendly match. The move does also raise interest about the electoral fortunes of the dynasty.

keeping out of Kerala and exhibiting the same grace and maturity shown by the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party (by not fielding candidates in Rae Bareli and Amethi in U.P.). Perhaps the Congress might have anticipated a similar gesture from the Left in Kerala. The electorate will wonder whether it is worth exercising their franchise in favour of a hotchpotch of parties that do not want to see eye to eye with each other. Despite being perceived to be on a sticky wicket due to its mediocre performance, the NDA suddenly finds itself at an advantage due to egoistic and unrelenting Opposition leaders.

Dr. Jai Prakash Gupta.

V. Subramanian,

Ambala Cantt., Haryana

Chennai

B. Prabha, Varkala, Kerala

The Congress party, which failed in its attempt to form a Mahagathbandhan before the elections, has made sure that political disunity and acrimony will continue even after the elections. The party should have shown some political expediency by ■

The stringent opposition, especially from the Left, primarily stems from that desperate realisation of the rich electoral dividends that the Congress would stand to reap/gain, which could have far­reaching ramifications in all constituencies of the ■

State. There are examples from the past of political leaders who have contested from two parliamentary seats and emerging victorious in both. Elections are to be fought on bread and butter issues instead of personality politics and sectarian issues. B. Suresh Kumar, Coimbatore

Water distress As water sources in south India begin to show signs of severe distress and exploitation, the focus should move to environmentalists who have been struggling to point out that dwindling green cover and shrinking water bodies are issues within our control. Rampant real estate development and concretisation are also why

we are faced with such a miserable situation. Studies have shown that buildings, roads and other hard surfaces absorb and store heat whereas vegetation reflects heat. China has realised rather late in the day. Its vertical forests — buildings that are designed to incorporate lush greenery along their facades, with trees and hedging sprouting from external gardens — are now being seen as solutions to tackle its deadly smog and pollution. The key issue is the availability of water; the best time to prepare and plan for water conservation is before the monsoon. Rainwater harvesting has been partly successful. Nagarajamani M.V., Hyderabad

more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications: The headline of a story (April 1, 2019, some editions) regarding the PSLV mission read: “PSLV to launch military’s eye in the sky.” It should have said military’s monitor. In “Dramatic win for Hamilton” (Sport, April 1, 2019), the refer­ ence to Sergio Perez of Racing Line should be corrected to read as Sergio Perez of Racing Point. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300; E-mail:[email protected] A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

OPED 9

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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We must reject the idea that membership in a group comes with an enemy to be fought

Rajeev Bhargava

Indian elections have become less violent over the last three decades. The credit for this must go not only to institutions such as the Election Commission but also to the political class. Yet there is another disturbing tendency, potentially replete with violence, that has been growing dur­ ing the same period: to view political opponents as enemies to be annihi­ lated. One gets a flavour of this in slo­ gans such as ‘Congress­mukt Bharat’, but more than in statements, it is present in the tone of some speakers, in their body language and in the fe­ rocity in their eyes. Friends and enemies The pro­Nazi, but important legal and political theorist, Carl Schmitt, made the friend­enemy distinction as constitutive of politics itself. To be political was necessarily to work with a distinction between an extreme version of us and them, friends and enemies. Not only was this distinc­ tion the decisive criterion of the pol­ itical but even within this relation­ ship, enmity had priority over friendship: Those not on our side, or disloyal to us, are automatically, irre­ deemably, enemies. In doing so, Schmitt reduced all politics to war. At least war is an ever­present possibili­ ty in politics, he claimed, and there­ fore a political person must conduct himself as if surrounded by enemies. Schmitt was exploiting a distinction perfected by some strands within Abrahamic religions that invented the idea of an ‘extra­systemic other’, a radical other with whom no con­ versation is possible, one who is out­ side one’s semantic universe. Those who do not adhere to the doctrine defining the system are enemies to be fought. Internal dissent too is anathema, akin to betrayal, of join­ ing the camp of the enemy, signifying treachery. Felt as existential threats, both outsiders and deviant insiders must be ‘converted’, brought in line or altogether expunged. This horrendous resource within these traditions, when deployed un­ der certain conditions, has played havoc in large parts of Europe lead­

“The strain of exclusionary nationalism has permeated South Asian cultures, an example being the expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar.” A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. GETTY IMAGES *

ing to crusades, the inquisition, the expulsions of Jews, and to the final solution of the concentration camps; and outside Europe, in the liquida­ tion, for example, of native Ameri­ cans. Some detect the same ideologi­ cal underpinning even in the neoconservative war on Iraq. Per­ haps, its most recent expression is in the violence exhibited by Islamist or­ ganisations such as the Islamic State. However, this mindset is no longer confined to strands of Abrahamic theology; it has crept into other reli­ gions and even been secularised. It is found in the 20th century in both fas­ cism and Stalinism and more perva­ sively in a host of ultra­nationalisms that have led to ethnic cleansing and genocide in several parts of the world, including Indonesia, Cambo­ dia and Rwanda. This strain of exclu­ sionary nationalism has permeated China where undercurrents of Han nationalism have virtually turned Ti­ betan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims into extra­systemic others or ene­ mies. It has infected South Asian cul­ tures too, causing the partition of the ‘subcontinent’, ethnic cleaning of Ta­ mils in Sri Lanka and the expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar. In India, the frequent use of the term ‘anti­national’ for those critical of the current dispensation smells of the same fatal disease. How to deal ideo­ logically with this seems to me one of the great challenges of our times. Enemies and adversaries Obviously, a mentality inebriated

with the friend­enemy syndrome is fundamentally undemocratic. Know­ ing the difference between an enemy and an adversary is absolutely criti­ cal in a functioning democracy. An adversary is someone one wishes to defeat in a temporary contest such as a legal combat or a game of cricket. To wish to trounce an opponent in an election is entirely legitimate. On the other hand, an enemy is someone to be destroyed permanently. Adversar­ ies can be won over, turned into al­ lies, but enemies cannot. A compro­ mise with an adversary is acceptable, even praiseworthy. On the other hand, with an enemy, a compromise spells defeat, an unacceptable con­ cession, a betrayal. The world of ad­ versaries in a democracy does not in­ volve a zero­sum game; no one loses everything or forever. There are no permanent losers or victors; each competitor wins some and loses some in a fair contest. But all rules of fairness can be abandoned in a fight with an enemy. In this hostile scena­ rio, all politics is nothing but war. It is often heard that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies. This may well appear to be opportunistic in some contexts but it is the very stuff of democratic politics where everyone hopes that today’s losers can be tomorrow’s victors and vice versa. Everyone, not only active political agents but also ordinary citi­ zens, is assured that no matter which party wins, the fundamental inter­ ests and liberties of all, the majority as well as the minority, are secure,

and despite deep differences on ma­ ny matters, everyone also shares so­ mething in common. This ‘common’ can be our humanity, national ethos, Constitution, or shared civilisational values, nurtured through history. For example, in India, the value of plu­ ralism, acceptance and accommoda­ tion, of refusing to view the world in terms of simple binaries has faced challenges from time to time by nar­ row­minded, rigid, hierarchy­ridden, upper caste practices (often termed Brahminism because it was legitimat­ ed by scholarly Brahmins), by close­ minded religious orders which ac­ companied Afghan and Turk invad­ ers and marauders, and by ruthlessly exploitative colonialists. More re­ cently, heartless multinational cor­ porations have also damaged this ethos by mindlessly turning everyth­ ing into a commodity to be bought and sold in the capitalist market. But exclusionary ultra­nationalists (as distinct from inclusive, moderate na­ tionalists) must not be left out of this nefarious list. They too are hell bent on throttling our civilisational values and democratic ethos. Protecting our civilisation As groups grow in size, they invent rules to regulate behaviour, formu­ late authoritative norms, install a structure of authority and, above all, evolve some criteria of who is in and who is out, of insiders and outsiders. Let us even agree that there is no ‘self ’ without an ‘other’. But rules can be rigid or flexible, a challenge to norms can be tolerated or punished severely, and the ‘other’ can be viewed as a temporary adversary in a healthy contest, someone with who one can also have a fruitful dialogue, or one with who conversation is im­ possible, a permanent enemy. This idea that membership in a group comes with an enemy to be fought was a powerful resource in the doc­ trines of some religions has slowly ta­ ken root in Asian religions, including modern Hinduism. It has now en­ tered our democratic politics. If it stays there, it will utterly destroy the atman of our civilisation and the astitva of democracy. Everyone across religious differences must strive to fight it. All democrats, if they wish to save their cherished system, must defang it before it is too late. #398299

Rajeev Bhargava is Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi

Chowkidars are those who protect the rich Why the BJP campaign is on the mark

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls himself a chowkidar. What he has done is tell the na­ tion and the world the truth. Chowkidars ex­ ist mostly in Asian countries where poor men work as protectors of the rich. In India, only about 0.5% of the population have watchmen, who are called chowkidars. Only poor, lower caste people — Dalits, Other Backward Classes and Adivasis — take up this job, and that too when no other work for survival is available. That the job is tied to caste was evident in Rajya Sabha MP Subra­ manian Swamy’s state­ ment. Mr. Swamy recently said that he cannot join the BJP’s ‘Main Bhi Chow­ kidar (I am also a watch­ man)’ campaign as he is a Brahmin. Being a chowkidar is a low­paying job with little job satisfaction — after all, a chowkidar has to stand at the gate of a rich man or woman’s house all day and protect it. No chowkidar serves the poor. The poor do not have anything that needs protection. GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO

The politics of enmity

Protecting the rich When I say Mr. Modi is speaking the truth, I refer to the people he has been protecting as Prime Minister — the rich, the top industrial­ ists. Those who are trying to establish a Hin­ dutva state and economy are doing so for the rich. The BJP/RSS Ministers and cadres have no hesitation in joining the ‘Main Bhi Chow­ kidar’ campaign. The BJP and the RSS have never believed in socio­economic equality. While it is true that BJP­RSS activists have al­ ways worked to help people during natural calamities, they have never worked for the upliftment of the poor. They have never or­ ganised the agrarian poor or the urban poor in order to increase their daily wages. Whe­ never there have been strikes by workers, they have sided with the management, never with the workers. Their student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has nev­ er organised seminars or conferences on how to improve the living conditions of the marginalised. Nor has it organised meetings for social and economic justice. It has, in fact, opposed progressive meets on campuses.

Taking a cue from Japan

ARCHIVES

FIFTY YEARS AGO APRIL 2, 1969

Wrong Air-India folder to be withdrawn

How India can bridge the Belt and Road divide with China

The Union Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Dr. Karan Singh, expressed regret in the Lok Sabha to­day [April 1, New Delhi] that a folder produced by Air India in collaboration with the BOAC and Thomas Cooks to attract foreign tourists had in­ dicated that India, Kashmir and Nepal were separate coun­ tries. The Minister was earlier taken by surprise when Mr. In­ drajit Gupta flourished the pamphlet and asked whether there was any kind of check to stop this kind of giving wrong infor­ mation that India, Kashmir and Nepal were three separate countries whereas Kashmir was an integral part of India. Mr. Gupta demanded to know who authorised this production, whether anybody in Government had seen the text and what action would Government take to see that such a piece was not put out. Dr. Karan Singh said that he was distressed to learn that Air India had produced such a pamphlet. It had not come to his notice so far.

Atul Aneja

AP

CM YK

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author

FROM

SINGLE FILE

Atul Aneja is The Hindu’s China correspondent

Disintegration of feudalism Luckily for them, by the 2014 Lok Sabha election, feudalism got disintegrated. The crony capitalists were impatient with the Congress culture of slow privatisation. They found in the BJP those who could protect them. Of course, some pro­poor policies are ta­ ken by the government too — for poor farm­ ers and labourers. This is only because if this is not done, a revolution could break out. And if a revolution does occur, leave alone the chowkidars, even the police cannot pro­ tect their economy. The 2019 elections will decide what the masters do. If the chowkidars come to power with their full backing, more decisions will be taken to increase the gap between the masses and the rich.

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As the countdown begins for the se­ cond edition of the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) later this month, Beij­ ing is jubilant. Last month, China demonstrated that President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had steamed into the heart of Europe. Late last month, during President Xi’s Europe visit, Italy be­ came the first G7 country to formally subscribe to the China­ led BRI. The Chinese have interpreted Rome’s decision as a historic event that revives ties between the European and Chinese civilisations. During his visit, President Xi also spoke about joint venture prospects in other countries, in­ cluding in Africa. That apparently tickled a nostalgic nerve in European capitals, where it has been difficult to separate the guilt of colonisation from a whiff of romance. The geo­ political subtext of the visit is also fairly obvious. With its ties with the U.S. souring, China is making a bold move to chip away at the real or contrived fault­lines of the Trans­Atlantic Alliance. As in 2017, when there were plenty of red faces in China when India did not grace the BRF, there is once again a fear in Beijing that New Delhi may repeat the embarrass­ ment. India had stayed out because of sovereignty concerns as the China­Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship of the BRI, passes through Pakistan­occupied Kashmir. The ques­ tion then arises whether there is third way out of the pro­ blem that would allow India to hold on to its position against official participation, but yet convey to the Chinese that New Delhi has no ingrained ill­will towards the BRI. Perhaps, New Delhi can pull a leaf out of Japan’s play book. In 2017, after Tokyo had decided that it needed to re­ build bridges that had collapsed following a maritime dis­ pute over a few East China Sea islands, Japanese Prime Mi­ nister Shinzo Abe decided to send his trusted party ally, Toshihiro Nikai, to China. Mr. Nikai, the secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, though an established heavyweight, was technically not a part of government. His presence signalled that Tokyo continued to have reserva­ tions about the BRI, but was nevertheless open to an en­ gagement with the enterprise, provided a course correction was carried out in the future. Significantly, Mr. Nikai’s dele­ gation included the head of Keidanren, Japan’s Business Federation lobby — a pointer that its current misgivings apart, Japan could be open to business within the ambit of the BRI. Taking the cue from Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Mo­ di can also tap an influential party heavyweight to lead an Indian non­official delegation to the BRF, along with busi­ ness leaders and reputed scholars. A mature and pragmatic Indian response, which keeps the door open for a future partnership with the BRI, may help keep afloat the reset achieved last year following the informal summit between Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi in Wuhan.

When the Indian economy was feudal, these activists mobilised support for the feu­ dal lords. After it became mainly capitalist following the globalisation and liberalisation phase, they stood by the growing crony cap­ italists. Their only concern was that these crony capitalists should back the Hindutva ideology. This is not to say that the Congress has not supported monopoly capital. But during the freedom struggle and till the 1970s, the Con­ gress had some serious ideological relation­ ship with the socialist welfare agenda. It wanted to build state capital. From Nehru­ vian democratic socialism to Indira Gandhi’s abolition of Privy Purses and bank nationali­ sation, the Congress engaged with the idea of some sort of social and economic equality. However, after Emergency, its credibility began to erode. When Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, a slow pace of privatisation started. Once the P.V. Nara­ simha Rao government was ushered in, the privatisa­ tion process picked up, without giving up the idea of a mixed economy. Through all these phases, the RSS and Jan Sangh opposed state capital; they opposed a mixed economy. It was only after Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency that they gained some credibility among the poor, and this was because they joined hands with the socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan. Other­ wise they never moved away from the rich. They never moved away from serving capi­ talist and feudal interests.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO APRIL 2, 1919. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

DATA POINT

A Farewell in Madras Two gentlemen long connected with the Madras Christian Col­ lege are leaving Madras for good in the persons of Mr. J.R. Hen­ derson, C.I.E., and the Rev. the Hon’ble Mr. G. Pittendrigh. Whether as Professor in the Christian College for a quarter of a century, or as Superintendent of the Madras Government Mu­ seum, Mr. Henderson has done valuable and enduring work. An active member of the University Senate, as Hony. Secretary of the Victoria Technical Institute, both those institutions have profited by his zeal and experience... In Mr. Pittendrigh the student world loses a ripe and able educationalist. He is a warm friend of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Mr. Pit­ tendrigh was given a cordial send­off at a farewell meeting yes­ terday. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

POLL CALL

Electronic voting machine (EVM) EVMs replaced the paper ballot system in the Kerala State elections in 1982 and are now used during Lok Sabha and As­ sembly elections. EVMs are easy to operate, reliable, elimi­ nate the possibility of invalid votes, make the process of counting faster, and are easier to transport compared to ballot boxes. Only two Indian public sector units manufacture EVMs: Bharat Electronic Limited and the Electronics Corpora­ tion of Indian Ltd. EVMs contain a control unit, which is with the polling officer, and a balloting unit, which the voter enters in order to cast her vote. Names and symbols of parties are shown on the machine and the voter presses the button next to the party of her choice. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

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THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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FROM PAGE ONE

SC questions Assam over untraced immigrants

Opposition gets a week for VVPAT reply SC gives time till April 8 for 21 Opposition parties to file response to Election Commission’s affidavit favour of an increase in the sample VVPAT slip counting for the Lok Sabha election. The 21 Opposition parties jointly moved the court chal­ lenging the EC guideline that VVPAT slip counting would take place only in one polling station in an Assembly con­ stituency or each Assembly segment in case of the Lok Sabha election.

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The hearing saw the court ask questions on a series of connected issues. “What percentage of illegal mi­ grants have you proceeded against? What are you doing to improve the conditions of those detained in the deten­ tion centres? How long will they remain,” the Chief Jus­ tice asked. The absence of the Assam Chief Secretary in court to personally answer these questions irked the Bench. “Where is the Chief Se­ cretary,” the CJI asked Mr. Mehta. “He was here the last time. Who exempted him from personal appearance this time? Does he get to de­ cide that he need not come?” The Chief Justice said the “Government of As­ sam is playing around with the court.” “Your affidavits are an exercise in futility,” the CJI remarked.

“We are doing our best,” Mr. Mehta responded. “If this is your best, then you permit us to pass our or­ ders in full exercise of our constitutional powers,” Chief Justice Gogoi retorted. Finally, the court drew a personal undertaking from Mr. Mehta that the Assam Chief Secretary would be present in court on April 8, the next date of hearing, and only return to Assam af­ ter getting permission from the court. The court is hearing a pe­ tition filed by activist Harsh Mander about the dismal liv­ ing conditions within the four walls of the detention centres in the State. It noticed that many de­ tainees continue to be lodged inside these centres even after the expiry of their term of imprisonment for il­ legally entering the country.

The Supreme Court on Mon­ day asked 21 Opposition par­ ties to respond by April 8 to an Election Commission affi­ davit that states that increas­ ing random physical verifica­ tion using VVPAT to 50% would delay the Lok Sabha poll results of 2019 by six whole days. A Bench led by Chief Jus­ tice of India Ranjan Gogoi, in a short hearing, agreed to a request made by senior ad­ vocate A.M. Singhvi for time to submit, in writing, the Op­ position’s response to the EC’s affidavit. “The 50% Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slip verification in each As­ sembly segment of a parlia­ mentary constituency or As­ sembly constituency on an average shall enlarge the time required for counting to about six days,” the EC said

Officials demonstrating functioning of EVM and VVPAT in the Adilabad Lok Sabha constituency. S. HARPAL SINGH *

in a 50­page affidavit filed last week. Observing that the current confidence level in EVM­VVPAT accuracy was 99.9936%, the ECI said any increase in the sample size of verification of VVPAT slips would only lead to a “very negligible gain in the confi­ dence level”.

The ECI said the adoption of a particular percentage as a sample for VVPAT verifica­ tion was devoid of scientific logic or statistical basis. In fact, it was “otiose” (would serve no practical purpose). The Commission stood its ground despite the court’s recent strong observations in

Congress accuses Shah of falsifying poll affidavit

Voters will punish Cong. Rahul a habitual liar, for ‘Hindu terror’ slur: PM says Shivraj Chouhan Turning his guns on the Na­ tionalist Congress Party (NCP) Mr Modi said party chief Sharad Pawar had fo­ reseen his defeat and decid­ ed not to contest the Lok Sabha election. “The NCP is facing a fami­ ly feud. The party is slipping out of Pawar’s hand and his nephew is taking over. Pa­ war was hit­wicket at the hands of his nephew,” he said. The Prime Minister blamed the drought in Vi­ darbha on the 70­year rule of the Congress and its cor­ ruption. “Pawar despite be­ ing a farmer himself, forgot about the plight of farmers, the suicides committed. He never cared,” said Mr. Modi. Stating that comments la­ belling him as the ‘chowki­ dar of toilets’ were in fact compliments, Mr. Modi said, “that means I am the chowkidar of the pride of women who never had ac­ cess to a toilet and had to go for open defecation,” he said. He added that ridiculing him as ‘chowkidar of toilets’ revealed the casteist men­

tality of Congress leaders and disrespect towards peo­ ple who have spent their en­ tire life cleaning toilets. Cong. counters attack The Congress party on Mon­ day said the Election Com­ mission should act against Mr. Modi for violating the provisions of the Represen­ tation of the People’s Act, following the Prime Minis­ ter’s remarks that Congress leaders were now looking for seats where Hindus are in a minority. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said if the EC did not take suo motu notice, the party would approach the poll panel. “Prime Minister Modi has committed a corrupt prac­ tice under Section 123 sub clause 3 of the Representa­ tion of the People Act be­ sides violating the dignity of the office that he holds and every other yardstick that is necessary in public life. He must apologise to the na­ tion,” said the Congress leader. (With inputs from Sandeep Phukan)

U.P. poll official seeks report on CM’s remarks “We are proud of our Army. They belong to all. They are a great asset of our nation, and not a cassette of the BJP. The people of this country must stand up and reject this statement,” she said. Seeks apology Slamming Mr. Adityanath’s remarks, Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the armed forces are not the “private army of Prachaar Mantri. Adityanath must apologise.” “If we talk about Masood Azhar, then how can one forget the stellar role of NSA [Ajit] Doval who personally

ensured the safe return of the terrorist to terroristan,” she tweeted. ‘Highly condemnable’ The Communist Party of In­ dia (CPI) demanded that the Election Commission take action against Mr. Aditya­ nath. “The comments are highly condemnable. This is a clear way of intimidating the voters and creating a fear psychosis in their minds. How can the defence forces belong to one politi­ cal party…it is the Indian de­ fence forces. How is it Mo­ di’s Army?” said CPI leader D. Raja.

Former vice­chairman of IL&FS arrested

Accuses Cong. of cheating M.P. farmers NEW DELHI

NCLT directive On October 1, 2018, the Cen­ tral government took steps to take control of the com­ pany through a directive by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and arrest the spread of the contagion to the financial markets. A new board under the leader­ CM YK

ship of banker Uday Kotak was constituted as the ear­ lier board was deemed to have failed to discharge its duties. The SFIO was then asked to probe the procedural lapses at the firm and its subsidiaries as the top man­ agement was believed to be involved in diverting money. Custody sought The SFIO counsel Hiten Ve­ negavkar sought Sankaran’s custody for five days “for as­ certaining all the fraudulent activities carried out by him, to prevent him from in­ fluencing any witnesses and destroy the evidence, to ex­ amine him about the loan and advances approved without proper collaterals.”

ordinary candidate, this is the president of the BJP and an alleged false declaration on an affidavit is a serious is­ sue,” he added.

Special Correspondent New Delhi

Shivraj Singh Chouhan

of messages purportedly from the State government and received by farmers stating that the loan waiver exercise was put on hold due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) that came into effect after the general election announcement. He added that the MCC was not applicable to ongo­ ing schemes and as such the government could have gone ahead with it if it wanted.

#398299

The Congress on Monday ac­ cused BJP president Amit Shah of ‘undervaluing’ one of the properties mentioned in his affidavit and demand­ ed that the Election Com­ mission direct the Returning Officer of Gandhinagar to take ‘appropriate’ action. Former Union Minister Manish Tewari told press­ persons that a plot in Gand­ hinagar, which has a market value of ₹66.5 lakh based on government guidelines, had been declared by the BJP chief at a value of ₹25 lakh. Observing that ‘underval­ uation’ of one’s assets in an election affidavit was a se­ rious matter, Mr. Tewari said such an act violated the pro­ visions of the Representa­ tion of the People Act (RPA).

Manish Tewari

He said that Section 125­A of the RPA clearly states that “a candidate who fails to provide full information or provides false information or conceals any information, will be punishable with fine and/or imprisonment”. “We would like the Elec­ tion Commission to take cog­ nisance of this matter and di­ rect the Returning Officer of Gandhinagar to take appro­ priate action under the law,” Mr. Tewari said. “This is no

Writers appeal against hate politics Joint statement says the vote should be for an equal and diverse India Prakash Kamat PANAJI

Over 200 writers across the country have issued a signed appeal, saying, “Let us vote against hate politics. Let us vote for an equal and diverse India.” Among the signatories are Amitav Ghosh, Romila Tha­ par, Arundhati Roy, Jerry Pinto, Keki Daruwalla, Harsh Mander, Ranjit Hoskote, R. Unni, Anand Teltumbde, Zoya Hasan and Girish Kar­ nad. They include those writing in Hindi, English, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla, Malayalam, Kanna­ da, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Kashmiri and Konkani. The statement was re­ leased by email on Monday

BSF officer, girl killed in Pak. shelling Press Trust of India

Trouble surfaced at IL&FS in the July­September quarter of 2018, when two of its sub­ sidiaries started defaulting on repayment of loans and inter­corporate deposits to lenders. A subsequent series of defaults caused a systemic problem with many non banking finance companies running into financial is­ sues.

Wants EC to take ‘appropriate’ action against BJP president

Special Correspondent

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has accused Con­ gress president Rahul Gand­ hi of being a “habitual liar”, referring to the farm loan waiver promised by the Congress during the recent Assembly election in Mad­ hya Pradesh. Mr. Chouhan said Mr. Gandhi had claimed during the Assembly election cam­ paign that the Congress would waive farmers’ loans within 10 days of coming to power in the State. Even after 104 days of Ka­ mal Nath taking over as Chief Minister, this was not fulfilled, he said. “Rahul Gandhi speaks lies with confidence and shamelessly. He is a habitual liar,” Mr. Chouhan said. He showed photocopies

ISI report The EC is banking on a March 22 report of the In­ dian Statistical Institute (ISI) to buttress its case against in­ creasing the sample size for counting VVPAT slips. The ISI report recom­ mends that a sample verifica­ tion of 479 EVMs and VVPATs out of a total 10.35 lakh machines would lift confidence to 99.9936%. Deputy Election Commis­ sioner Sudeep Jain, who authored the affidavit, ho­

by K. Satchidanandan and Githa Hariharan on behalf of the Indian Writers’ Forum. The statement said: “The upcoming election finds our country at the crossroads. Our Constitution guarantees all its citizens equal rights, the freedom to eat, pray and live as they choose, freedom of expression and the right to dissent. But in the last few years, we have seen citizens being lynched or assaulted or discriminated against be­ cause of their community, caste, gender, or the region they come from. “Hate politics has been used to divide the country; create fear; and exclude more and more people from living as full­fledged citizens.

Romila Thapar is one of the signatories to the petition.

Writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians and other cultural practitioners have been hounded, intimidated, and censored. Anyone who ques­ tions the powers­that­be is in danger of being harassed or arrested on false and ridicu­ lous charges.

India, Pak. scramble jets after UAV sighting Situation resolved after drone retreats

Jammu/Srinagar

Special Correspondent

A BSF officer and a five­ year­old girl were killed on Monday as Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling on forward areas along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch dis­ trict, officials said. Sobia (5) was killed and two persons suffered inju­ ries when a shell exploded near their house in a village in Shahpur sub­sector, the officials said.

NEW DELHI

Four militants killed Four militants were killed while three Army jawans and a police personnel were injured in an encoun­ ter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, police said.

wever, wrote that the EC’s sample verification for the Lok Sabha polls would cover 4,125 EVMs and VVPATs. “This is 8.6 times the sample size recommended in the In­ dian Statistical Institute report.” The poll panel, represent­ ed by senior advocate Arya­ ma Sundaram and advocate Amit Sharma, submitted that no mismatch had been de­ tected during mock polls, or in the verification of VVPAT slips carried out at 1,500 polling stations till date. The EC said increased VVPAT slip counting would require extensive training and capacity building of election officials in the field. VVPAT slip counting takes place in specially erected VVPAT counting booths un­ der the close monitoring of the returning officer and with direct oversight by the observer.

In an indication of the conti­ nuing state of high alert, In­ dia and Pakistan scrambled fighter jets after a Pakistani Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was detected close to the border early on Monday. “Around 3 a.m. in the morning, Indian Army re­ ported a Pakistani UAV near Khem Karan sector in Pun­ jab based on which we scrambled two Su­30MKI jets. In response, Pakistan scrambled two F­16s,” a De­ fence official said. The situa­ tion was resolved as both sides backed off. Separately, in an unusual statement, the Inter­Servic­ es Public Relations (ISPR) of Pakistan armed forces

claimed that the air strikes on Indian military installa­ tions on February 27 were carried out by JF­17s of Pa­ kistan Air Force and also claimed to have shot down two IAF fighter jets in the ae­ rial engagement that followed. Whether it was F­16 or JF­17 which shot down “two Indian aircrafts is immate­ rial,” the ISPR statement said, adding they were shot in self­defence. It also said all their fighters, including F­16s, were airborne at that time and “India can assume any type of their choice even F­16.” “Pakistan retains the right to use anything and everything in self­defence,” the statement said.

“All of us want this to change. We don’t want ra­ tionalists, writers, and acti­ vists to be hounded or assas­ sinated. We want stern measures against violence in word or deed against wo­ men, Dalits, Adivasis and mi­ nority communities. We want resources and mea­ sures for jobs, education, re­ search, healthcare and equal opportunities for all... Vote out the division of our peo­ ple; vote out inequality; vote against violence, intimida­ tion, and censorship. This is the only way we can vote for an India that renews the pro­ mises made by our Constitu­ tion. This is why we appeal to all citizens to vote for a di­ verse and equal India.”

‘Achhe din for some’ The Congress leader said that despite a laid­down pro­ cess, the BJP president had decided to declare the pro­ perty at less than half its market value. Mr. Tewari also ques­ tioned the threefold jump in Mr. Shah’s assets between 2012 and 2019 — the assets had grown from ₹11.79 crore to ₹38.81 crore. “At least, for some, achhe din [good days] have come even if they have not come for 125 crore Indians,” he quipped, mocking the BJP’s campaign slogan for the 2014 election.

AAP moves EC against Namo TV SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI

The Election Commission is examining Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) plea for its in­ tervention on the issue of “Namo TV” that has been launched for real­time cov­ erage of Prime Minister Na­ rendra Modi’s political campaigns. In a letter to the EC, the AAP said the Supreme Court had held that there must be a level playing field for all political parties. The Commission was entrusted with the duty to maintain this. “But, defying this very cardinal principle, BJP has launched the 24­hour ‘Na­ mo TV’ channel.” In a separate memoran­ dum, the Congress sought directions to the Informa­ tion and Broadcasting Mi­ nistry and DTH service providers to take action against the channel, be­ sides strictures against the Prime Minister and the BJP for using the channel as a political campaign tool.

EC will deal with PM’s biopic: HC SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mumbai

The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Election Commission of India (ECI) will deal with the issue seeking stay on the biopic of PM Narendra Modi and disposed of the matter. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice NM Jamdar was hearing a public interest li­ tigation (PIL) plea filed by social activist Satish Gaik­ wad, stating that the poll code of conduct came into effect on March 10, while the trailer of the movie was released on March 20. The court rapped the petitioner for not attaching any objectionable material to the petition. It said the ECI can address the issue, and disposed of the matter.

Hardik moves SC for stay on conviction Still hopes to contest in Jamnagar Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

Congress leader Hardik Pa­ tel on Monday moved the Supreme Court for an ex parte stay on his conviction in the 2015 Vispur rioting case. On March 29, the Gujarat High Court declined his plea to suspend his conviction. On July 25, 2018, the Ses­ sions Court at Visnagar in Mehsana district sentenced Mr. Patel to two years in jail. It found him guilty of rioting and arson in the town dur­ ing the Patidar quota agita­ tion of 2015. Under the election law, a candidate facing two years

Hardik Patel

or more in jail is disqualified unless the conviction is stayed. The High Court sus­ pended the sentence in Au­ gust 2018, but not the con­ viction. Mr. Patel, 25, is preparing to contest Jamna­ gar after joining the Con­ gress on March 12. The last date for filing of nomina­ tions is April 4.

Facebook purges pages for ‘coordinated’ fake behaviour Congress says ‘no official pages’ run by it were removed Yuthika Bhargava NEW DELHI

With less than two weeks be­ fore India goes to the polls, Facebook said it had re­ moved more than 700 pages and accounts in India for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” including 687 linked to an IT cell of the Congress party. The other 15 pages, groups and accounts that were taken down were associated with an Indian IT firm Silver Touch, which does a bulk of its work for the NDA government. The Congress, however, said that none of the party’s verified Facebook accounts had been removed by the so­ cial media giant. “No official

pages run by INC have been taken down,” the Congress tweeted on its official han­ dle. “Additionally, all pages run by our verified volun­ teers are also unaffected. In the mean time, we are await­ ing a response from Face­ book to provide us a list of all pages/accounts that they have taken down.” In a blogpost, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher wrote

that the people behind these pages and accounts coordi­ nated with one another and used fake accounts to misre­ present themselves, while stressing that they were re­ moved on the basis of their behaviour, not the content they posted. Interestingly, the 687 pag­ es and accounts linked to in­ dividuals connected an an IT cell of the Congress spent the rupee equivalent of about $39,000 for ads on Fa­ cebook between August 2014 and March 2019, while the 15 accounts and pages as­ sociated with Silver Touch spent about $70,000 on ads between June 2014 and Fe­ bruary 2019. A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

ELECTION 2019 11

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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In battle for Begusarai, the ‘My fight is against the politics of polarisation’ charge of the young gun INTERVIEW | KANHAIYA KUMAR

Student leader says Begusarai’s voters will back him for their voice to be heard in Delhi be feeling threatened. Peo­ ple of Begusarai would vote for me, for their voice to be heard in Delhi against all the hate politics, politics of inti­ midation, oppression; for participatory democracy and social cohesion, inclusiveness.

Amarnath Tewary

Former JNU Students’ Union president and CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is pitted against BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh in Begusarai, known as the ‘Leningrad of Bihar’ for the sizeable number of communist party supporters across caste lines. Both Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh are from the dominant upper caste Bhumihar community but their politics represent two poles. Talking over several cups of tea outside his concrete-and-thatched single-storey house at Bihat-Maslanpur village, Mr. Kumar portrayed the contest as one between truth and falsehood and a battle to protect the Constitution and democratic institutions. Excerpts: Whom do you consider as your contender? BJP candidate Giriraj Singh or grand alliance (RJD) candidate Tanveer Hassan?

I do not consider either of them as my contender. My fight is not against any indivi­ dual but an ideology: against that ideology which talks about politics of polarisa­ tion, divisiveness, attacking the Constitution and slam­ ming democratic institu­ tions. It’s a contest between haq aur loot; saach aur jhoot (rights and loot; truth and lies). ■

How do you see BJP’s development, patriotism, Pulwama and Balakot air strike issues in the campaign?

We all know about BJP’s propaganda politics. Divisive politics. If they were so sure about all these things to reap electoral dividend, then why did they go for alliances with the Shiv Sena and the JD(U) on these parties’ terms? Pa­ triotism and our soldiers’ ■

Why did the mahagathbandhan refuse to field you as candidate, despite a grand welcome accorded to you, by both RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, earlier?

bravery should not come in­ to politics. It is always there for every Indian to salute but politicising it, I think, must be condemned. The BJP’s slander campaign of “anti­ national” and “fake news” cannot be approved by any

■ I’ve no idea at all. But, I’ve no grudges against anyone. I’m here to contest the elec­ tion with an open mind and clear agenda. The people of Begusarai are politically so mature that they know and understand everything. They’re ready to break all myths in this election: about caste, chemistry, calcula­ tions and propaganda. Be­ gusarai has never been a BJP stronghold… only in 2014, the BJP candidate had won the seat. But, it’s been a tra­ ditional stronghold of com­ munists, Left ideologies... there has never been a caste massacre here as was earlier happening in districts of cen­ tral Bihar. Why? Because, people here are well aware and pol­ itically educated… it’s not that only the lower caste pe­ ople are Left supporters in Begusarai, but most of them come from upper caste Bhu­ mihar community.

It’s a contest < > between haq aur loot; saach aur jhoot (rights and loot; truth and lies) right thinking Indian. By raising Pulwama terror strike and Balakot air strike they have hatched a conspi­ racy to hide their failures… the promises they made dur­ ing the last election to the people of the country. But why should the people of Begusarai vote for you?

Because I’m the son of the soil and, unlike the BJP can­ didate, I’m not being import­ ed. You can well understand why Giriraj Singh was reluc­ tant to contest from Begusa­ rai for over a week… he must ■

But BJP firebrand Giriraj Singh is not sparing any corner

I will keep raising my voice against politics of hatred and intimidation; to take politics out of the pockets of the rich and powerful and give it to those common people who pay taxes so that the govern­ ments run. People should be the master. We’ll speak for the state of public equality, education, healthcare and infrastructure. We’ll vouch for alternative politics to be accountable and transparent.

Do you think coming from the Bhumihar community will help you in the election?

■

Not really, why to single out the Bhumihar caste only. I’m getting support from eve­ ryone, every caste and com­ munity. It’s my constituency, they all are my people, whether Muslims or Hindus. But, how can I discard this social fact, that I was born in a Bhumihar family? ■

How different is it from contesting the JNU Students’ Union election?

How much money have you collected through crowdfunding?

■ JNU is beyond an academic institution. It gives you space to learn freely from social movements, consciousness and even from your own life. It was there that my activism flourished and it changed my life’s ambition. When I was contesting for students’ un­ ion president, I had no idea that I would get such an over­ whelming response and win the poll. Contesting Lok Sab­ ha poll also is not very diffe­ rent from it... I’m meeting people here every day and hope to get that “overwhelm­ ing” response from them to win this poll as well.

In three days, the initiative had collected over ₹30 lakh but suddenly a cyberattack took place and the website stopped opening… The tar­ get is to collect ₹70 lakh as per EC guidelines. ■

Were you to win, what would be your priorities?

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Dhimsa time

Amarnath Tewary Begusarai

“This time, we will vote for local boy Kanhaiya Kumar,” Dilip Sharma, 45, says. Mr. Sharma lives in Bihat­ Maslanpur village of Begusa­ rai, the Lok Sabha consti­ tuency where the CPI has fielded the former JNU Stu­ dents’ Union president against firebrand BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh. Mr. Singh was reluctant to contest after the BJP swapped his Nawada seat with the Lok Janshakti Party. Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh come from the upper caste Bhumihar community which, with a 4.5 lakh popu­ lation, is a dominant caste in the constituency. There is a sizeable number of Muslim (2.5 lakh), Yadav (80,000) and Extremely Backward Caste (about 1 lakh) voters. In 2014, BJP candidate Bhola Prasad Singh won here, defeating RJD candi­ date Tanveer Hassan by over 60,000 votes. Mr. Hassan, again in the poll ring on RJD ticket, hopes to win the seat with the possible split of the Bhumihar votes between his two rivals. Begusarai is known as the ‘Leningrad of Bihar’ as it has a sizeable number of CPI supporters across caste lines. In 2014, the BJP got 39.73% of the votes, RJD 34.32% and CPI candidate Rajendra Prasad 17.87%. Yo­ gendra Sharma of the CPI had won the seat in 1967.

In new territory: BJP candidate Giriraj Singh during his election campaign in Begusarai on Monday. PTI *

The Congress, the RJD and the JD(U) have been bag­ ging the seat, but the Left vote bank has been intact with its candidates coming at second or third position. “Left supporters and sym­ pathisers across the country have been keenly watching the electoral battle of Begus­ arai,” political analyst Ajay Kumar told The Hindu. All Left parties in the State have extended their support to Mr. Kumar. “Like in Nawada, the BJP tried to incite communal tension in Muslim areas such as Ballia, Rosera, Pokharia, Patel Chowk and Bathauli of Begusarai too, but we reached these places in time and foiled their plot. We un­ derlined that Hindus, Mus­ lims, Sikhs and Christians all are brothers,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu on Saturday. “We’ll not allow Singh to make Begusarai another Na­ wada where politics has been completely polarised,” Surendra Sharma, a farmer at Teghra, said.

Bastar police plan to outdo tactical campaign of Maoists

After being denied ticket for Nawada, Mr. Singh had been sulking in Delhi, say­ ing, “I fail to understand why among all Union Minis­ ters from Bihar only my con­ stituency was changed.” However, after party chief Amit Shah assuaged his “hurt feelings”, Mr. Singh landed in Patna and rushed to meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The next day he was in Begusarai and kicked off his campaign in his inimita­ ble style. “My fight is against anti­ nationals… those leaders who are asking the Centre for proof of India’s air strike against Pakistan are not con­ nected with ground reali­ ties… I am sure the people of Begusarai will give them a befitting reply,” he said. A group of JNU alumni and Independent MLA from Vadgam (Gujarat) Jignesh Mevani, along with popular YouTuber Wali Rahmani, are camping in Begusarai and canvassing for Mr. Ku­ mar.

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Security forces on area­domination, confidence­building steps Sidharth Yadav Jagdalpur

In demand: Folk artistes performing the Dhimsa dance at a rally taken out by the Telugu Desam Party at Araku in Visakhapatnam district. The artistes, who struggle for a livelihood, are much sought­after during election season, especially in rural areas. K.R. DEEPAK *

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The April 11 election in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituen­ cy comes at a challenging time for security forces as Maoists are on the tactical counter­offensive campaign they take up from February to June every year, Vivekanand Sinha, Inspector­General of Police, Bastar range, says. “Maoist activity picks up around April when the collec­ tion of tendu leaves begins. Extorting money from tribal leaf collectors is a major source of revenue for them [the Maoists],” he says. This time, Maoists report­ edly organised meetings with villagers on the periphery of Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewa­ da districts to urge them to abstain from voting. “Wherev­ er such meetings have been reportedly held, we have sent in teams for area domination and confidence­building among villagers,” Mr. Sinha says. The police have roped in 300 volunteers from the six districts of the range to en­ courage people to vote. “Based on the results of such efforts during the recent As­ sembly election, we have gi­ ven the election special em­

A gola for a goli: Shah PARALAKHEMUNDI

Road less taken: Adivasi residents of Pedwada village in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, in this file photo. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA *

phasis under community policing. Each district has a programme with a particular name. For instance, the one in Bastar is called Amcho Police, Amcho Bastar,” he says. At every checkpost on the highways passing through the region, security personnel are filming vehicle checks. “This is to ensure transparency and avoid complaints of harass­ ment,” Mr. Sinha says. While some polling officials will walk to remote booths, many others in districts other than Dantewada will be airlift­ ed. As the possibility of inter­ State Maoist movement looms large, the police have de­ ployed troops along the State boundaries. Troops from va­ rious regions are arriving in the range every day, and 350

companies of 75­80 personnel each will be deployed during the election. “Those who have been called from other parts are given a week’s spe­ cial training before being de­ ployed on the field,” he said. The troops are being ac­ commodated in existing camps, and hence schools are not being closed. Security cover has been provided to the candidates based on the threat level and place of cam­ paigning. On the Congress claim that Maoist violence was declining under its rule in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Sinha said it was too early to say that since the new go­ vernment was formed only in December and the period of a possible increase in Maoist ac­ tivity had just begun.

In abode of the clouds, coal sparks livelihood versus ecology debate Election in Meghalaya’s two Lok Sabha seats is taking place in the backdrop of the worst mining tragedies RAHUL KARMAKAR SHILLONG

Jostina Dkhar, 40, fears the day the interim relief she re­ ceived for her dead son Di­ monme gets exhausted. Her elder son Melambok lies bu­ ried deep inside a flooded rat­ hole coal mine at Ksan, about 21 km from her village Lum­ thari in Meghalaya’s East Jain­ tia Hills district. The 20­year­old Dimonme’s decomposed body was one of the two retrieved from the Ksan mine, where at least 15 miners have been trapped since December 31. Multiple agencies have since been ex­ tracting water from a network of coal pits in a bid to retrieve the bodies, but the water level has hardly changed. Ksan, or Khloo Ryngksan, CM YK

and Lumthari are within Sutn­ ga­Saipung, one of the 36 As­ sembly segment of the miner­ al­rich Shillong Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress MP Vincent Pala is seeking a victory for the third straight term. The ailing Ms. Dkhar, whose husband abandoned her 10 years ago, wishes she knew a trade to sustain and educate her two minor daughters. Her family has been too dependent on coal — almost an illicit commodity in the region since April 2014 when the National Green Tri­ bunal (NGT) banned rat­hole mining — while effluents from the mines poisoned the farm­ lands around. She is unaware that the plight of families like hers has

Jostina Dkhar lost her sons in the mine mishap.

become an issue for debate ahead of the election to Megh­ alaya’s two Lok Sabha seats. The other seat is Tura, which is witnessing the battle of the Sangmas — National Pe­ ople’s Party (NPP) candidate and former Union Minister Agatha Sangma versus former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma

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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

of the Congress. “This election is happening in the backdrop of one of the worst mining tragedies,” said Jemino Mawthoh, a former MLA and the United Demo­ cratic Party (UDP) candidate for Shillong. “People in Megh­ alaya have been mining coal for ages but thousands of

them suddenly are without a source of livelihood. Someth­ ing needs to be done but at the same time, we need a mechan­ ism that ensures protection of the environment,” he added. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Shillong, Sanbor Shullai, too has sought a “fine balance” between live­ lihood and ecology. The BJP had in the manifesto for the Assembly poll in February 2018 promised to find a solu­ tion to the issue within 180 days. Mr. Pala, who owns 24 sq km of coal mines and has bat­ ted for regulated mining, finds the NGT ban unfair to Megha­ laya. “The type of mining here is dictated by the terrain.” Chief Minister and NPP pre­ sident Conrad K. Sangma be­

lieves that the ban is not the solution.“I want the ban to be lifted, but the system has to change to ensure safety of miners and protect the envi­ ronment,” he said. “It is not only about coal,” said green activist Brian Khar­ pran Daly. “Indiscriminate limestone mining too is killing the land and rivers of Megha­ laya...The hills have suffered a lot, and there is no political will to stem the rot, let alone undo the damage,” he added. A case in point is the Megh­ alaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund set up, as per the NGT’s direction, with contributions from coal miners, traders and transpor­ ters. The State government has collected ₹433 crore so far, but is yet to put it to use.

The BJP believes in the policy of answering a goli (bullet) of terrorists with a gola (bomb), party national president Amit Shah said on Monday, speaking at an election rally on the outskirts of Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district under the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency. Reiterating his campaign theme that the country was safe in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Shah said the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack had been avenged. Referring to the retaliatory air strikes on terror bases in Pakistan, Mr. Shah in a pejorative reference said Mr. Modi was unlike ‘mauni baba’ Manmohan Singh.

BSP releases second list LUCKNOW

The Bahujan Samaj Party on Monday released its second list of six candidates for the Lok Sabha poll for Uttar Pradesh, including three reserved constituencies. Those fielded are fresh names. In Shahjahanpur, the BSP has fielded Amar Chand Jauhar, who is associated with education business, in place of Umed Singh Kashyap, who stood second in 2014 with 2.89 lakh votes. Neelu Satyarthi, who stood second in the Balamau Assembly seat in Hardoi in the 2017 election, will be the party’s candidate in Misrikh. In Farukhhabad, known as a potato hub, the BSP has fielded former MLC Manoj Agarwal. In Akbarpur, which comprises rural Kanpur, the party has fielded a Kurmi (OBC), Nisha Sachan. In Jalaun, also reserved for Dalits, it has fielded former MLA Ajay Singh Pankaj, who won from Konch in 2007. In Hamirpur, the BSP’s candidate is Dilip Kumar Singh.

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A ND-NDE

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12 WORLD

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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ELSEWHERE

China locks horns with U.S. Erdoğan loses ground in Turkey’s big cities in local polls over Masood Azhar Opposition wins Ankara mayoral race and takes a narrow lead in Istanbul

Says it is making ‘positive progress’ on listing JeM chief Atul Aneja

Russian aviation tycoon killed in plane crash One of Russia’s richest women died on Sunday when a private plane on which she was travelling crashed near an airport in Germany. Natalia Fileva, 55, a co­owner of a conglomerate behind the Russian company S7 Airlines, was among three people killed when the six­seater plane crashed into an asparagus field south of Frankfurt, German agency DPA reported. NY Times

Pak. clerics condemn forced conversion ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s senior Muslim clerics and representatives from different religions on Sunday condemned forceful conversion of people from minority communities. The remarks were made during a joint meeting of two religious bodies amid the nationwide outrage over the alleged forced conversions of Hindu girls in Sindh province. PTI

Ethiopian Airlines crash preliminary report ready ADDIS ABABA

A preliminary report into the crash of a Boeing 737 Max in which 157 people died will be ready on Monday and issued this week, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nebiat Getachew said the Transport Ministry would release the preliminary report. AFP

Istanbul

Turkey’s Opposition dealt President Recep Tayyip Er­ doğan a symbolic blow by gaining ground in key cities in the country’s local elections. The Opposition won the capital, Ankara, a ruling par­ ty stronghold for decades, and was leading a tight race for Mayor in Istanbul, ac­ cording to unofficial figures on Monday. The leader, who has dominated Turkish polit­ ics for 16 years, declared vic­ tory despite the Opposition gains. Sunday’s local elections were widely seen as a gauge of support for Mr. Erdoğan as the nation of 81 million faces a daunting economic recession with double­digit inflation, rising food prices and high unemployment. It was also a first test for Mr. Er­ doğan, who has been ac­ cused of increasingly author­ itarian tendencies since stepping last year into a new presidential role with widely expanded powers. Behlul Ozkan, an asso­ ciate professor at Marmara

BEIJING

China announced on Monday that it will launch a crackdown on all fentanyl­ like substances from May 1 following U.S. pleas for Beijing to control a drug fuelling a deadly opioid crisis. The issue has figured in bilateral trade talks . AFP

AKP defeated: Supporters of Opposition Republican People’s Party celebrating in Ankara on Monday. AFP *

University, said Mr. Erdo­ ğan’s loss of ground in Anka­ ra and Istanbul indicated that his socially conservative and construction­driven pol­ icies no longer resonated in the cosmopolitan cities. ‘Hegemony over’ “Political Islam’s quarter­ century old hegemony in Turkey’s two largest cities is over,” he said. “The basic problem is that Mr. Erdoğan is not able to get votes from middle­income earners who believe that the economy, education and urban admi­ nistration are not run well.”

Sri Lanka police destroy nearly 800 kg of cocaine Agence France-Presse Colombo

China to crack down on fentanyl-like substances

Sri Lankan police on Mon­ day destroyed nearly 800 kg of cocaine in the presence of President Maithripala Sirise­ na, who has called for the death penalty for traffick­ ers. The drugs were seized in four raids between June 2016 and June 2018. Mr. Sirisena vowed to step up his drug war and

Charge against Kim killing suspect dropped But she pleads guilty to ‘causing injury’

promised to import high­ tech equipment to detect narcotics at ports and air­ ports, his office said. Mr. Sir­ isena “reiterated his desire to carry out capital punish­ ment for repeat drug offen­ ders”, the statement added. In February, police seized nearly 300 kg of heroin worth $17 million, the is­ land’s biggest haul, while in transit at a Colombo mall.

27 killed as storm hits south Nepal Agence France-Presse

Agence France-Presse

Kathmandu

Shah Alam

A freak storm tore down houses and overturned cars and trucks as it swept across southern Nepal, kill­ ing at least 27 people and leaving more than 600 in­ jured, officials said on Monday as a major rescue operation gathered pace. The rare spring storm battered the rural district of Bara and adjoining areas late on Sunday with high winds. Five children were among the dead, the Home Ministry said, as rescuers battled to get relief sup­ plies to the region and evacuate the injured. Injured victims flocked to local hospitals, who were unable to cope and at least seven people were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.

A Vietnamese woman ac­ cused of assassinating the North Korean leader’s half­ brother is to walk free after Malaysia dropped murder charges against her on Mon­ day, weeks after her Indone­ sian co­accused was also released. The 2017 killing of Kim Jong­nam with a toxic nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur’s in­ ternational airport shocked the world, but Doan Thi Hu­ ong’s guilty plea to the less­ er charge of “causing inju­ ry” makes her the only person convicted in the case. The pair, who claimed they were tricked into carry­ ing out the killing, were put on trial facing a murder charge. But last month the charge against Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah was

the ruling party’s 48.5% sup­ port. Ekrem ݝmamoğlu, the Opposition candidate in an alliance led by the secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, declared that he won Istanbul but his rival, former Prime Minister Binali Yıldı­ rım of the ruling party, said it was still too early to call. Mr. Yıldırım accepted that his rival was leading by some 25,000 votes but said his party would file an objec­ tion, suggesting a recount of the 3,19,500 votes declared void in Istanbul. “Whoever receives the mandate from the electoral board will be Mayor,” said Mr. Yıldırım. Both Ankara and Istanbul have been held by Mr. Erdo­ ğan’s Justice and Develop­ ment Party and its Islamic­ oriented predecessor for 25 years. Mr. Erdoğan’s own as­ cent to power began as Istan­ bul Mayor in 1994. Unofficial results showed Mansur Yavaş, the candidate of the CHP­led alliance, win­ ning the top post in Ankara with 50.9% support. The AKP still holds a majority of Ankara’s 25 districts.

Associated Press

Doan Thi Huong.

*

AP

dropped and on Monday, prosecutors withdrew the charge against the second accused, Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, and replaced it with a lesser one. She pleaded guilty to “causing injury” and was handed a three year and four month jail term, with her lawyers saying she would be freed next month due to sentence reductions.

More than 57 million peo­ ple were eligible to vote for the Mayors of 30 major ci­ ties, 51 provincial capitals and 922 districts in Turkey. The election was marred by sporadic violence, with five dead and scores injured across Turkey. Even with 99% of the votes counted, ballot counts were still under way on Mon­ day in the tight race for Istan­ bul, Turkey’s largest city and commercial hub. Unofficial results reported by the state­run Anadolu news agency showed the Op­ position at 48.8% support to

BEIJING

China on Monday said it was making “some positive pro­ gress” to resolve differences on listing Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, and rejected Washington’s alternative move to ban the head of the Jaish­e­Mohammed ( JeM) through a resolution at the UN Security Council. The diplomatic tussle bet­ ween Beijing and Washing­ ton has intensified after Chi­ nese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang asserted on Monday that the UN 1267 committee should be the sole forum where Az­ har’s listing should be discussed. “After the application of designation was proposed at the (1267) committee, China has been in close communi­ cation and coordination with various parties,” Mr. Geng said. “As I said, we have been working with various parties and (our efforts) have made some positive progress. The U.S. knows that very well.” The friction between Chi­ na and the U.S. has shar­ pened after Washington,

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang

along with France and the U.K., piloted a resolution in the 1267 committee for list­ ing Azhar, following the Fe­ bruary attack in Pulwama in which more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Technical hold China placed a “technical hold” on the listing despite Pakistan based JeM, which Azhar heads, taking respon­ sibility for the attack. Fol­ lowing China’s move in the 1267 committee, the U.S. sponsored a resolution in the Security Council seeking Azhar’s ban. “We believe that in the current circumstances, forc­ ing a resolution at the Secur­ ity Council is not a construc­

Never acted inappropriately: Biden An ex­lawmaker had said he made inappropriate contact with her in 2014 Sriram Lakshman Washington

Former U.S. Vice­President Joseph R. Biden directly res­ ponded on Sunday to Fri­ day’s accusations from form­ er Nevada lawmaker Lucy Flores that he had made in­ appropriate physical contact with her in 2014, making her feel “uneasy, gross, and con­ fused”. “In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expres­ sions of affection, support and comfort,” Mr. Biden said via a statement. “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappro­ priately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respect­ fully. But it was never my in­ tention.” Ms. Flores told CNN that Mr. Biden’s personal state­ ment was “certainly better” than his spokesperson’s prior statement on Mr. Bi­ den’s behalf, which, while denying that he or his staff­ ers had any recollection of the event or knowledge of

#398299

Ms. Flores’s discomfort, ack­ nowledged her right to share her recollections. However, Ms. Flores ad­ ded: “Frankly, my point was never about his intentions, and they shouldn’t be about his intentions. It should be about the women on the re­ ceiving end of that behaviour.” “I may not recall these moments the same way, and I may be surprised at what I hear. But we have arrived at an important time when wo­ men feel they can and should relate their expe­ riences, and men should pay attention. And I will,” Mr. Bi­ den’s statement read. Advocate for women The former Vice­President, who is expected to an­ nounce a 2020 bid for the White House in a few weeks, said he would continue to “remain the strongest advo­ cate” for women and will work with women who chal­ lenge him to see perspec­ tives different from his own. Asked about the timing of

teraction with Stephanie Carter, wife of former De­ fense Secretary Ash Carter, at Mr. Carter’s swearing in ceremony in 2015, which re­ sembled Mr. Biden’s alleged interaction with Ms. Flores, from Ms. Flores’s descrip­ tion of the interaction.

U.S. former Vice­President Joe Biden. AP *

her accusation, Ms. Flores, who had endorsed Mr. San­ ders in 2016 and was a Board member at a Sanders­affiliat­ ed advocacy group, told CNN Mr. Biden’s conduct was “so­ mething that we should con­ sider when we are talking about the background of a person who is considering running for President.” A number of memes and montages of Mr. Biden’s inte­ ractions and physical ap­ proach with women had emerged online. One such image was of Mr. Biden’s in­

‘Not my story’ Ms. Carter wrote a blog post on Medium.com, saying the photo had been misinter­ preted. She also said she was for Ms. Flores’s “right to spear her truth” and that Ms. Flores and “all women” should be believed but that “her [Ms. Flores’s] story is not mine...” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is making a bid for the White House next year, said he had no reason to not believe Ms. Flores, but did not say the allegations disqualified Mr. Biden from running for office. “I think that’s a decision for the Vice­President to make. I’m not sure that one incident alone disqualifies anybody.”

tive move and is setting a bad example,” Mr. Geng said. The Chinese Foreign Mi­ nistry pointed out that the U.S. was failing in its bid to muster majority support in the UNSC, and urged Wash­ ington to return to the 1267 committee to resolve the issue. “We hope various parties will meet each other halfway and continue to properly solve the issues under the 1267 UN committee frame­ work. Last Friday, the UN Se­ curity Council members ex­ changed views on the U.S.­proposed draft resolu­ tion and the majority be­ lieves that efforts should be made under the framework of 1267 committee and solve the issue through dialogue and consultations,” Mr. Geng said. The spokesper­ son stressed that the majori­ ty of the UNSC “are not in fa­ vour of forcing a draft resolution”. China has emphasised that the purpose of its “tech­ nical hold” is to allow more discussion on the issue in or­ der to achieve a consensus based settlement.

Military courts in Pakistan close down Press Trust of India Islamabad

Pakistan’s special military courts, which were set up in 2015 to try civilians on terrorism charges, have ceased to exist after the go­ vernment failed to get the support of the Opposition to extend their tenure, ac­ cording to a media report. The courts were set up weeks after the Peshawar school attack on December 16, 2014, for speedy trial of hardcore militants. The Express Tribune re­ ported that the courts ceased to exist on Sunday as the government failed to get the support of the Op­ position to extend their te­ nure. The government wanted to give another two­year extension. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had told the Na­ tional Assembly last year that a total of 478 cases had been decided by these courts. He said a total of 284 convicts had been awarded death sentences.

Algerian President Bouteflika to resign before mandate ends Protests seeking his ouster have rocked the country Reuters Algiers

Algerian President Abdela­ ziz Bouteflika will resign be­ fore his mandate ends on April 28, state news agency APS said on Monday, after more than a month of mass protests and Army pressure seeking an end to his 20­ year rule. APS said Mr. Bouteflika, who is 82 and in poor health, would take important deci­ sions to ensure “continuity of the state’s institutions” before stepping down. It did not spell out a date for Mr. Bouteflika’s departure. Caretaker leader Under the Constitution of the oil producing North Afri­ can state, Abdelkader Ben­ salah, chairman of the upper house of Parliament, would CM YK

A supporter of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers in 2009. AFP *

take over as caretaker Presi­ dent for 90 days until elec­ tions are held. In a move to defuse the unrest, Mr. Bouteflika said on March 11 he was dropping plans to run for a fifth term. But he had stopped short of leaving immediately in fa­ vour of waiting for a national conference on reforms to ad­ dress discontent over cor­

ruption, nepotism, misman­ agement and the prolonged grip on power of elderly vet­ erans of the 1954­62 war of independence against France. Mr. Bouteflika’s hesitation further enraged protesters, spurring the powerful Army Chief of Staff to step in by proposing last week to im­ plement a provision of Alge­ ria’s Constitution that calls for a constitutional council to determine whether Mr. Bouteflika was still fit to gov­ ern or allow him to resign. An estimated million prot­ esters had filled the capital Algiers on Friday demand­ ing the ruling elite and age­ ing leaders of the struggle against French colonialism step aside as a movement that is reminiscent of the Arab Spring grows. A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

BUSINESS 13

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Maruti, Hyundai car sales fall in March

OYO raises funding from Airbnb, to collaborate on multiple projects Airbnb’s access to local communities expected to open up ‘new opportunities’ for OYO Hotels & Homes Special Correspondent

‘Consumer spending lower ahead of polls’ Special Correspondent NEW DELHI/Chennai

Carmakers continued to wit­ ness subdued demand with most manufacturers posting a decline or low single­digit growth in domestic sales dur­ ing March. However, for the 2018­19 financial year, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai posted their best­ever sales numbers. Market leader Maruti Suzuki saw a marginal decline of 0.7% in sales to over 1.47 lakh units as against sales of more than 1.48 lakh passenger vehicles in March 2018. The company said sales of mini and compact segment cars (Alto, WagonR. Ignis, Cele­ rio, Swift, Baleno and Dzire) fell 6.6% to 99,358 units, while sales of Ciaz were down 15% to 3,672 units. However, sales of utility vehicles — Gypsy, Ertiga, Vitara Brezza, S­Cross — were up 12.3% to 25,563 units and those of vans (Omni, Echo) were up 20% to 16,438 units. The sales of its LCV Super Car­ ry stood at 2,582 units, up 82.9%. However, for the full year 2018­19, the company posted the highest annual domestic sales of over 17.53 lakh units, a growth of 6.1% over the pre­ vious year. Likewise, for Hyundai Motor India, March domestic sales declined 7.6% to 44,350 units. However, for the full year, it posted its highest ever domes­ tic volume of over 5.45 lakh un­ its, a growth of 1.7%. Tata Motors’ domestic sales dropped by 1% to 68,709 units in March 2019 “as weak con­ sumer sentiment continued,” while for the full year, sales were up 16% at 6.7 lakh units. Domestic passenger vehicle sales fell 12% in March to 17,810 units, while full­year sales were highest in the last six years at over 2.1 lakh, a growth of 12% over the previous year. In the commercial vehicles segment, the firm witnessed a 4% growth to 50,917 units in March, and full year sales growing 17% to more than 4.68 lakh units. “The market however, conti­ nues to exhibit subdued de­ mand on the back of lingering effects of the liquidity crisis, lag­effect of the implementa­ tion of revised axle load norms, slowing economy and weak IIP growth ,” the compa­ ny said. Toyota Kirloskar Motor said

NEW DELHI

OYO Hotels & Homes said on Monday it had raised funding from U.S.­based ac­ commodation platform Airbnb.

While the financial de­ tails of the deal were not dis­ closed, a source pegged the investment by Airbnb to be between $100 and $200 million. As part of this ‘strategic

investment’, both parties are exploring opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making OYO’s accommodations available on Airbnb’s plat­ form, the source added.

“As the sixth­largest hotel chain operator in the world, we, at OYO Hotels & Homes, are committed to offering our guests and travellers around the world, great quality living spaces. We are

happy to have Airbnb as our partner in this vision,” Ma­ ninder Gulati, global chief strategy officer at OYO Ho­ tels & Homes, said in a statement. Mr. Gulati added that

Airbnb’s strong global foot­ print and access to local communities were expect­ ed to open up new oppor­ tunities for OYO Hotels & Homes to strengthen and grow.

Sales of Maruti’s Ciaz declined 15% to 3,672 units in the month of March.

it sold 2% more vehicles in In­ dia in March at 12,818 units. N. Raja, deputy managing direc­ tor, said: “We are happy to have clocked a growth of 7% in domestic sales in FY19 as com­ pared to FY18…However, con­ sumer spending has weakened in the pre­election phase and the business sentiment has dampened temporarily.” Mahindra & Mahindra re­ ported 1% increase in domestic sales at 59,012 units in March. However, the growth stood at 9% for the entire year with ov­ er 5.7 lakh units sold. In March 2019, the company sold 27,646 passenger vehicles, a growth of 4% as opposed to a decline of 4% in sales of commercial veh­ icles to 24,423 units. Amaze drives sales Honda Cars India said it sold 17,202 units in March 2019 as compared to 13,574 units in the same month last year, a growth of 27%. In 2018­19, sales were up 8% to over 1.83 lakh units against over 1.7 lakh units in FY18. Rajesh Goel, senior vice­ president and director, sales and marketing, Honda Cars In­ dia, said: “Strong sales efforts from the dealers and company during the prevailing tough market scenario resulted in this growth rate, which is ahead of the industry. One of our growth drivers was the All New Amaze…” Truck major Ashok Leyland Ltd. reported a decline of 7% in its March sales figures in the domestic market for trucks and buses. The firm sold 15,235 units against 16,315 units in the year­ earlier period. The sales of me­ dium and heavy commercial vehicle trucks were down by 8% to 13,134, buses grew by 5% to 2,101. Light commercial veh­ icles grew by 1% to 5,286 units.

#398299

Hyundai unveils BlueLink connectivity in India SUV Venue to feature voice recognition Yuthika Bhargava NEW DELHI

South Korean carmaker Hyun­ dai will soon roll out the ‘Blue­ Link’ connectivity feature in India that will allow users to in­ teract with their cars using voice, while enabling them to remotely switch on/off the car or its AC. This feature will be first in­ troduced in its upcoming com­ pact SUV Venue. “BlueLink is Hyundai’s glo­ bal technology which will be introduced in the Indian mar­ ket with 33 features, of which 10 would be India­specific fea­ tures such as a panic button, for most practical and holistic connectivity. This will herald a new era of smart connected cars in India,” Ji Hong Baek, managing director, Hyundai Motor India Engineering, told The Hindu. The feature is powered by an “inbuilt and tamper­proof device” with a Vodafone­Idea eSim and a cloud­based voice recognition platform. “The ‘in­ teractive voice recognition’ has been developed specifically for customers from different re­ gions in India. It currently sup­ ports ‘Indian English’ lan­ guage,” Mr. Baek said. Hyundai is also planning to introduce these connectivity features in future models in the country. Challenges Asked about challenges faced, Mr. Baek said: “We faced some strong challenges because of network conditions. Connect­ ed cars work on networks. We CM YK

have experience in connected cars of over 10 years, mainly in developed markets. So it was a little difficult. But now we have made our systems better.” He added the company started working on bringing the technology to India about two years back, pointing out that high number of regional languages in India and diffe­ rent accents also difficult. He, however, stressed that all features have been tested several times to fine­tune them. For example, in case Blue­ Link is unable to find a 4G net­ work, it will automatically look for 3G or 2G networks, whi­ chever is available. Mr. Baek added that the data of Indian users would be stored in India. While the com­ pany would at present use pu­ blic cloud services providers it might also look at setting up their own server in India. Stating that the feature was available only in developed markets till now, the “good ex­ posure” in India would help the company to take BlueLink to other developing markets such as Indonesia and Brazil. A ND-NDE

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14 BUSINESS

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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market watch 01-04-2019

% CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 38,872 ddddddddddddddd0.51 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 32,820 ddddddddddddddd0.25 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 68.65 ddddddddddddddd0.40

NIFTY 50

GST collections at ₹1.06 lakh cr. in March, clock the highest­ever

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports . . ................... . . . . . 383.05. . . . . . . . . 4.90 Asian Paints. . ................. . . . 1492.75. . . . . . . . . 0.05 Axis Bank . . ...................... . . . . . . 765.60. . . . . . -11.65 Bajaj Auto . . ...................... . . . 2915.65. . . . . . . . . 4.55 Bajaj Finserv. . ............... . . . 7158.80. . . . . 121.75 Bajaj Finance . . .............. . . . 3001.45. . . . . . -23.55 Bharti Airtel . . ............... . . . . . 340.80. . . . . . . . . 7.70 BPCL. . .................................... . . . . . . 391.90. . . . . . . . -5.65 Britannia Ind . . .............. . . . 3049.85. . . . . . -35.65 Cipla . . .................................... . . . . . . 525.65. . . . . . . . -3.25 Coal India . . ...................... . . . . . 236.40. . . . . . . . -0.80 Dr Reddys Lab . . .......... . . . 2794.80. . . . . . . 14.55 Eicher Motors. . ............ 20048.40. . . -499.30 GAIL (India). . ................. . . . . . 354.70. . . . . . . . . 7.05 Grasim Ind . . .................... . . . . . 857.35. . . . . . . . -0.60 HCL Tech. . ........................ . . . . 1110.75. . . . . . . 23.30 HDFC . . .................................. . . . . 1959.65. . . . . . . . -8.60 HDFC Bank. . .................... . . . 2311.80. . . . . . . . -7.10 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2558.50. . ........... 5.35 Hindalco . . ........................ . . . . . . 215.90. . . . . . . 10.40 Hind Unilever . . ............ . . . 1690.00. . . . . . -16.80 Indiabulls HFL . . .......... . . . . . 847.20. . . . . . -11.05 ICICI Bank . . ...................... . . . . . 398.25. . . . . . . . -2.25 IndusInd Bank . . .......... . . . 1743.05. . . . . . -36.95 Bharti Infratel . . .......... . . . . . 314.25. . . . . . . . . 0.85 Infosys . . ............................. . . . . . . 755.10. . . . . . . 11.25 Indian OilCorp . . .......... . . . . . 158.70. . . . . . . . -4.15 ITC . . ......................................... . . . . . . 297.25. . . . . . . . . 0.00 JSW Steel. . ........................ . . . . . 292.30. . . . . . . . -0.75 Kotak Bank . . ................... . . . 1339.40. . . . . . . . . 4.90 L&T . . ....................................... . . . . 1412.20. . . . . . . 26.90 M&M . . .................................. . . . . . . 660.90. . . . . . -13.00 Maruti Suzuki . . ............ . . . 6840.70. . . . . 168.15 NTPC . . .................................. . . . . . . 135.10. . . . . . . . . 0.40 ONGC . . ................................. . . . . . . 157.25. . . . . . . . -2.50 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 195.55. . ......... -2.35 Reliance Ind . . ............... . . . 1391.85. . . . . . . 28.60 State Bank . . .................... . . . . . 322.75. . . . . . . . . 2.00 Sun Pharma . . ................. . . . . . 478.85. . . . . . . . . 0.00 Tata Motors . . ................. . . . . . 187.35. . . . . . . 13.10 Tata Steel . . ...................... . . . . . 535.15. . . . . . . 14.15 TCS . . ....................................... . . . . 2031.65. . . . . . . 30.00 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 785.50. . ........... 9.60 Titan . . .................................. . . . . 1120.35. . . . . . -21.50 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 4053.50. . ....... 55.15 UPL. . ....................................... . . . . . . 934.30. . . . . . -24.55 Vedanta . . .......................... . . . . . . 188.90. . . . . . . . . 4.45 Wipro . . ................................. . . . . . . 261.65. . . . . . . . . 6.85 YES Bank. . ........................ . . . . . . 275.90. . . . . . . . . 0.80 Zee Entertainment . . ...... 431.70. . . . . . -13.80

BULLION RATES

CHENNAI

April 01 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses Retail Silver (1g) . . ................. 40.5. . . . . . . (40.3) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . ................ 3034. . . . . . (3025)

IN BRIEF

Kotak Bank promoters told to file affidavit MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court has sought an affidavit from the promoters of Kotak Mahindra Bank that they had complied with the RBI’s direction on promoter­holding norms. The private sector lender had filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court on the issue of shareholding norms. According to RBI’s direction, the bank was supposed to reduce promoter’s stake to 30% by December 31, 2019 and to 15% by March 31, 2020.

Coal India output rises 7% to 607 MT in FY19 KOLKATA

Coal India Ltd.(CIL) breached the 600­million tonne output mark by closing the current fiscal with producing 607 million tonnes (MT), 7% higher than the last fiscal. Coal supplies stood at 608 million tonnes, an increase of 4.8% in a year against the targeted 610 MT, the figures show. Power sector supplies, at 488 MT, rose by 7.4 % with improved synergies between the Railways and the Coal and Power Ministries, CIL said.

Citibank pays ₹4.5 cr., settles case with SEBI NEW DELHI

Citibank N.A. has settled a case with the SEBI regarding the bank’s alleged failure to adequately supervise an employee who carried out an unregistered portfolio investment scheme. The case was settled after the bank paid ₹4.5 crore towards settlement charges, a SEBI order said. In April 2015, the SEBI issued a notice to the bank for alleged violation of portfolio managers norms with respect to one relationship manager. PTI

Embassy Office Parks REIT up 4.7% on debut MUMBAI

The country’s first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) — Embassy Office Parks REIT — made its debut on the bourses on Monday, gaining nearly 5% over its issue price. On the BSE, the REIT units opened flat at its issue price of ₹300, before touching an intra­day high of ₹324.50. The units settled the day at ₹314.10, a gain of 4.70% over its issue price. On the NSE, the REIT units closed at ₹314 apiece.

CM YK

Centre says revenue growth picking up despite rate rationalisation measures

Sensex scales a new peak, breaches 39,000 intraday Gains led by stocks in auto, metal and energy sectors SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

reconciliations by business­ es of outward and inward supplies, intelligent data analytics­related tax leakage detections and consequent GST payment by businesses.” The government said the March 2019 revenue was 15.6% higher than a year ear­ lier. “The revenue for the last quarter in 2018­19 is 14.3% higher than a year earlier,” it added. “The monthly aver­ age of GST revenue during 2018­19 is ₹98,114 crore which is 9.2% higher than [the average for] FY 2017­18. These figures indicate that the revenue growth has been picking up in recent months, despite various rate rational­ isation measures.”

Special Correspondent NEW DELHI

Goods and Services Tax col­ lections in March 2019 hit ₹1.06 lakh crore, the highest in the history of the tax in In­ dia, and the fourth time monthly collections have crossed ₹1 lakh crore this year, according to an official data release on Monday. Average collections in the year stand at ₹98,114 crore, up 9.2% from the average in 2017­18. GST collections had previously crossed the ₹1 lakh crore mark in April, Oc­ tober, and January this fiscal. “Total gross GST revenue collected in March 2019 is ₹1,06,577 crore, of which CGST is ₹20,353 crore, SGST is ₹27,520 crore, IGST is

Plugging the leaks: One reason for the rise in collections could be tax leakage detections. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK *

₹50,418 crore (including ₹23,521 crore collected on imports) and cess is ₹8,286 crore,” the government said in a release. “The total num­ ber of GSTR 3B Returns filed for February up to March 31,

2019 is 75.95 lakh.” “The steep increase in GST collections is quite wel­ come for the economy,” Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY India, said. “Major rea­ sons for the growth could be

MUMBAI

Amid strong flows from fo­ reign investors and a posi­ tive trend in the global mar­ kets, the benchmark Sensex breached the 39,000­mark for the first time ever on Monday, before profit book­ ing pared most of the intra­ day gains. The 30­share Sensex touched a high of 39,115.57 during the day, gaining near­ ly 443 points compared to the previous day’s close of 38,672.91. However, the in­ dex finally closed at 38,871.87, up 198.96 points. The gains in the index were primarily led by auto, metal and energy stocks with Tata Motors, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki In­

dia and Reliance Industries among the top gainers. The broader Nifty of the NSE set­ tled the day at 11,669.15, up 45.25 points, or 0.39%. Elsewhere, benchmark indices like Hang Seng, Nik­ kei and Kospi all ended the day with gains. Back in In­ dia, the broader market breadth was also strong with nearly 1,700 gainers on BSE,

as against 913 declines. “Markets are almost on the verge of making a new re­ cord high so any consolida­ tion or profit taking should be considered as buying op­ portunity,” said Jayant Man­ glik, president, retail distri­ bution, Religare Broking. The Sensex is now less than 25 points away from its all­time closing high of 38,896.63 of August 28, 2018. Further, record flows have been seen from foreign investors who have invested nearly ₹34,000 crore in March — the highest ever. The only other instance of foreign investments crossing ₹30,000 crore in one month was in March 2017 when the net investment was pegged at ₹30,906 crore.

J&J baby shampoo samples fail quality test

INTERVIEW | P.B. JAYAKUMAR

Firm rejects drug watchdog’s findings

BoB to shift some branches in medium­term as 10% of total number are close to each other: CEO & MD

Reuters

MANOJIT SAHA

NEW DELHI

Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo samples failed quality tests conducted by the State of Rajasthan, ac­ cording to a public notice from the State’s drugs watchdog, findings that were rejected by the U.S. drugmaker. The Rajasthan Drugs Con­ trol Organisation’s notice dated March 5 said that the samples of J&J’s baby sham­ poo taken from two batches had failed the quality test as they contained “harmful in­ gredients.” A J&J spokeswo­ man said that the results it received from the watchdog indicated that formalde­ hyde had been discovered

‘Depth, breadth combination to spur revenue growth’ Effective April 1, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank have merged with Bank of Baroda. The MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda, P.B. Jayakumar, shares the medium­term roadmap of the merged entity in an interview. fore. Combination of depth and breadth will give us the revenue growth we want to accomplish. The position re­ mains the same that we set for ourselves in BoB, which is continuous CAGR of 15%, return on equity of 15%, a book value of greater than 2 and very high employee and customer satisfaction levels. We will also have more products for customers. Also, our employees will emerge as better managers.

What are the medium-term vision and targets for the merged entity?

Photo for representational purpose. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK *

in the samples. Formalde­ hyde, used in making build­ ing materials, is a known carcinogen. “We do not ac­ cept the interim results gi­ ven to us, which mentioned samples to ‘contain harmful ingredients­identification positive for formaldehyde’,” she told Reuters.

At a broader level, this amalgamation is giving us both depth and breadth. Breadth from the extended distribution network we got — the 9,500 branches. The second thing is that we now have a deeper team — the number of general managers and so on… So, it is now possible for us to fo­ cus on the segments much better than we have done be­

■

What issues do you want to address in Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank?

With Vijaya Bank, I do not see any overwhelming is­ sues. It is a well­run bank; has shown strong growth; it has been a profitable and a dividend­de­ claring bank. ■

So the whole objective is leverage from Vijaya Bank’s strength in terms of its rela­ tionship with, particularly markets in the South. They have depth in many areas; they have more school ac­ counts, hospital accounts, temple accounts. So far as Dena is concerned, the posi­ tive thing is the NPA issues are well identified, now it is a question of resolution. And the second thing is because they were in PCA we need to revive their credit growth. What is the loan growth target for the current financial year? ■

In the last five quar­ ters we have been

growing 15­20% in domestic credit. Our guidance conti­ nues to remain pretty much there itself. Will there be any branch rationalisation?

For the first 6­9 months, we are not looking at any branch rationalisation, as we need to get a certain degree of technology integration completed. In the medium term, we do plan to shift some branches because 10% of the branches are close to each other. We do not see re­ duction in the number of branches; it will be relocat­ ing to new locations — micro markets — where we do not have any presence. ■

#398299

‘Debt killing Jet, balance sheet clean­up crucial for survival’

RBI tweaks NPA divergence disclosure rules

Airline authorities not in favour of a ‘quick­fix’ solution

Press Trust of India

Lalatendu Mishra MUMBAI

With the cleaning up of Jet Airways’ balance sheet seen crucial for its long­term via­ bility and survival, banks are believed to be working on another plan for recapitali­ sation of the airline. With more than $2 billion debt, including bank bor­ rowings and dues to ven­ dors, Jet Airways cannot be turned around without a large­scale capital infusion and debt reduction, compa­ ny executives said. “What is killing Jet Air­ ways is the debt. The ba­ lance sheet has to be cleared up. See the contrast, IndiGo is sitting over $2 billion cash in its balance sheet and Jet has a debt of over $2 billion. How can it compete?” asked an airline official not want­

ing to be named. “Most of our money was going towards debt repay­ ment and finance costs. Oth­ erwise, on an operational stand point, we are not terri­ bly bad,” the official said. “After cleaning up of the balance sheet, we are rea­ sonably confident of achiev­ ing a turnaround. Other­ wise, it will be a quick­fix

SEBI mulls SRO for investment advisers ‘Time right for self­regulatory entity’

solution that may not last long,” another senior official said. Realising this, lenders are believed to be working on an alternative plan. Lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI) have re­ portedly come up with a new plan to mobilise ₹9,535 crore funding for the airline. This includes ₹3,800 crore as equity infusion by two new investors. As per the plans, a rights issue will mobilise addition­ al capital and there will be complete exit of promoter Naresh Goyal and strategic investor Etihad Airways, whose shares will be trans­ ferred to a trust to be man­ aged by the lenders. More details and confir­ mation on this were not available till the time of go­ ing to press.

Core sector growth quickens to 2.1% in Feb. Snaps three­month slowing trend

Special Correspondent

Mumbai

Special Correspondent

The RBI on Monday asked banks to disclose bad loan divergences in their finan­ cial statements if the addi­ tional provisioning exceeds 10% of profit before provi­ sion and contingencies. Earlier, banks were to make suitable disclosures if the additional provisioning requirements assessed by RBI exceeded 15% of the pu­ blished net profits after tax for the reference period. Separately, the Reserve Bank of India said it will in­ ject long­term liquidity worth $5 billion into the banking system through a dollar­rupee buy­sell swap for a 3­year tenure on April 23. On March 26, the central bank had bought $5 billion through a similar swap auc­ tion in a bid to ease liquidity ahead of the elections.

NEW DELHI

Core sector growth acceler­ ated in February to 2.11% from the 1.5% in January, snapping a three­month slowing trend, according to official data released on Monday. Growth had come in at 4.74% for October 2018, 3.38% for November and 2.64% for December. Within the Index of Eight Core Industries, the crude oil sector contracted sharp­ ly in February, by 6.16%, compared with a contrac­ tion of 4.37% in January. The natural gas sector saw growth slowing to 3.7% from 6.21% over the same period. “After recording a high single­digit growth of 7.3% in July 2018, core sector has consistently recorded a growth of low single­digit in­ dicating weakness in the in­

‘FY19 saw more rating upgrades than downgrades’ Upgrades to downgrades ratio at 1.81 in H2; was at 1.68 in H1

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI

The Securities and Ex­ change Board of India (SE­ BI) has proposed a self regu­ latory organisation (SRO) for the growing number of investment advisers to ad­ dress issues related to the quality of advice given to in­ vestors by such entities. The capital markets regu­ lator released a consultation paper on Monday, which, among other things, pro­ posed the strengthening of the existing regulatory fra­ mework for SROs by intro­ ducing features such as a go­ verning board with public interest directors and a clear policy for arbitration and dispute resolution. “SEBI is in receipt of a large number of complaints alleging charging of exorbi­ tant fees, assurance of re­

dustrial growth,” Sunil Ku­ mar Sinha, Director ­ Public Finance & Principal Econo­ mist, India Ratings and Re­ search, said. The cement sector saw growth at 8.04% in Febru­ ary, lower than the 11% growth in January. The coal sector witnessed growth ac­ celerating in February to 7.26% from 1.74% in January. The refinery products sector saw a contraction of 0.74% in February, as com­ pared with a contraction of 2.58% in January. The fertil­ izer sector also saw growth slowing drastically in Febru­ ary to 2.54% from 10.5% in January. The steel sector’s growth slowed in February to 4.87% from 5.52% in Janu­ ary. Growth in the electrici­ ty sector remained flat at 0.73% in February com­ pared with 0.8% in January.

Mumbai

turns, misconduct etc. by in­ vestment advisers... Given the growth in this segment of the market, it is felt that the time is appropriate to in­ itiate the formation of an SRO [for the sector],” stated the SEBI statement. The regulator has pro­ posed a governing board with at least 50% public in­ terest directors along with 25% representation each of shareholder directors and elected representatives.

Rating agency Crisil said that the credit ratio, or the num­ ber of upgrades to down­ grades, at 1.81 in the second half of fiscal 2019, was mar­ ginally up from 1.68 in the first half. There were 594 upgrades and 328 downgrades in the second half, a period marked by rebound in ex­ ports, and continued go­ vernment spending, it said. Rising with asset quality “The positive trend in credit ratio is also consistent with asset quality as seen in the banking sector, where incre­ mental slippages in non­per­ forming assets declined sharply to 3.7% in H2, com­ pared with 3.8% in H1 and an

downgrades < > The were driven mostly by firm­specific concerns Jitin Makkar, Head, Credit Policy, ICRA

average of 6% in fiscal 2017 and 2018,” Crisil said. Anoth­ er rating agency ICRA, has upgraded 513 entities in FY19 as compared to 389 downgrades. However, ICRA said its rating actions in FY2019 indicated a persis­ tent pressure on the credit quality of corporate India. “This is reflected in the rating drift of ICRA­assigned ratings, calculated as the av­ erage upgraded notches per rated entity, minus the aver­ age downgraded notches per rated entity (an indica­ tor of the extent and the di­

rection of rating changes), descending to ­12% in FY2019,” ICRA said. ICRA said the ratio was not only higher than the past five­year average of ­8%, but was also higher than the rat­ ing drift of ­11% experienced in FY2018. The aggregate volume of the debt downgraded by ICRA in FY2019 stood at ₹3.2 lakh crore higher by 10% than that downgraded in the preceding fiscal. “Notably, the downgrades were driven mostly by firm­ specific concerns emanating from deterioration in busi­ ness profiles or worsening of capital structures or in­ creased liquidity pressures on the rated entities,” said Ji­ tin Makkar, Head — Credit Policy, ICRA.

Chennai

Eicher Motors Ltd. has ap­ pointed Vinod K. Dasari as the chief executive officer of Royal Enfield. He will also join the board of Eicher Motors as executive director with im­ mediate effect. He stepped down as MD and CEO of Ashok Leyland on March 31. He takes over from Siddhartha Lal, who will continue as the MD of Eich­ er Motors. The bikemaker also said it plans to invest ₹700 crore in capital expendi­ ture for 2019­20. The planned expenditure will include completion of con­ struction work of the Tech­ nology Centre, Phase­2 of the Vallam Vadagal plant in Tamil Nadu and towards the development of new platforms and products.

Basant Jhawar ‘voted out’ of Usha Martin board Sibling gets 99.8% votes to continue Special Correspondent KOLKATA

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Vinod Dasari named Royal Enfield CEO

Basant Kumar Jhawar, the former chairman of Usha Martin Ltd. (UML), lost his position on the board after shareholders gave thumbs down to a proposal on his continuation beyond March 31, 2019. In a regulatory filing, UML said that 67% of the shareholders voted against the resolution which sought continuation of Mr. Basant Kumar Jhawar, 83, as non­ executive director. He is among the founder­promo­ ters of the special steel and wire rope­making company. However, another resolu­ tion moved at the compa­ ny’s EGM held on Saturday, seeking continuation of co­ founder Brij Kishore Jhawar, 81, sailed through with 99.8% votes in favour.

Mr. Brij Kishore Jhawar and Mr. Basant Kumar Jha­ war are brothers and the voting pattern is seen reflec­ tive of the ongoing feud bet­ ween the two family fac­ tions. At the same meeting, an ordinary resolution was passed seeking the appoint­ ment of Pravin Kumar Jain as joint managing director (wire & wire rope business) UML, from February 5, 2019 to January 31, 2020. Mr. Brij Kishore Jhawar’s son Rajeev is now the managing direc­ tor of UML. UML shares gained mar­ ginally during the day at the bourses, closing at about ₹40. Meanwhile, in a state­ ment Mr. Basant Kumar Jha­ war said that it was unfortu­ nate that Mr. Rajeev Jhawar, along with persons acting in concert, had got him re­ moved. A ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

SPORT 15

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Delhi capitulates from a position of strength Curran and Shami help Kings XI Punjab defend a below-par total and make it two-out-of-two at home SCOREBOARD

KINGS XI PUNJAB K.L. Rahul lbw b Morris 15 (11b, 2x4, 1x6), Sam Curran lbw b Lamichhane 20 (10b, 3x4, 1x6), Mayank Agarwal run out 6 (9b), Sarfaraz Khan c Pant b Lamichhane 39 (29b, 6x4), David Miller c Pant b Morris 43 (30b, 4x4, 2x6), Mandeep Singh (not out) 29 (21b, 2x4, 1x6), Hardus Viljoen c Morris b Rabada 1 (3b), R. Ashwin b Morris 3 (4b), M. Ashwin c Avesh b Rabada 1 (2b), Mohammed Shami run out 0 (1b), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (w-8, b-1): 9; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 166. FALL OF WICKETS 1-15 (Rahul, 1.5 overs), 2-36 (Curran, 3.5) 3-58 (Mayank, 7.1), 4-120 (Sarfaraz, 13.5), 5-137 (Miller, 16.2), 6-146 (Viljoen, 17.3), 7-152 (R. Ashwin, 18.5), 8153 (M. Ashwin, 19.1), 9-156 (Shami, 19.4). DELHI CAPITALS BOWLING Rabada 4-0-32-2, Morris 40-30-3, Avesh 3-0-30-0, Lamichhane 4-0-27-2, Harshal 4-0-37-0, Vihari 1-0-9-0. DELHI CAPITALS

Uthra Ganesan Mohali

Kings XI Punjab stuttered and faltered with the bat but its bowlers made up for it, managing to defend a below­ par total to make it two­in­ two at home with a 14­run victory over Delhi Capitals in IPL­12 at the PCA Stadium here on Monday. Delhi lost the plot chasing a tricky 167 for victory when it lost Prithvi Shaw the first ball, R. Ashwin inducing the faintest of edges to K.L. Ra­ hul behind the stumps. Batting collapse But, unlike its previous game when Delhi managed to stumble past the finish line after dominating the chase, it suffered a batting collapse here towards the end. Shaw’s dismissal meant it was up to Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer to settle the nerves and they managed for a while, adding 61, before the Delhi captain dragged Har­ dus Viljoen’s length delivery onto his stumps. Delhi, which was in a posi­ tion of strength at 137 for three at one stage, imploded and lost its last seven wickets for just eight runs. Rishabh Pant and Colin In­ gram, added 62 for the

Pulling it off: The Kings XI Punjab players are delighted after Sam Curran’s hat-trick helped them turn the tables on Delhi Capitals.

fourth wicket and looked set to take Delhi home comforta­ bly. But once Pant was cleaned up by Mohammed Shami, going for one big hit too many, the plot changed. The icing for Kings XI was Sam Curran registering the first hat­trick of the season to wrap up Delhi’s innings. Earlier, Punjab received its first blow even before the game began, with Chris Gayle pulling out owing to in­ jury. Ashwin then lost the

toss followed by losing wick­ ets at crucial moments. David Miller, Sarfaraz Khan and Mandeep Singh, who remained unbeaten on 29, were the chief contribu­ tors to the team’s score. Mill­ er’s dismissal in the 17th over triggered a collapse. Expensive Delhi dropped Amit Mishra and added Avesh Khan but he proved to be the most ex­ pensive even as the other

frontline bowlers — Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Sandeep Lamichhane — shared the spoils. It was Lamichhane who ended the only fruitful pe­ riod of play for the host. Sar­ faraz and Milled put on 62 for the fourth wicket, but just as the team looked set to change gears, Sarfaraz poked at a harmless delivery from Lamichhane that hardly turned, edging to Pant. The momentum was lost

*

KINGS XI PUNJAB VS DELHI CAPITALS

AKHILESH KUMAR

Prithvi Shaw c Rahul b R. Ashwin 0 (1b), Shikhar Dhawan lbw b R. Ashwin 30 (25b, 4x4), Shreyas Iyer b Viljoen 28 (22b, 5x4), Rishabh Pant b Shami 39 (26b, 3x4, 2x6), Colin Ingram c sub b Curran 38 (29b, 4x4, 1x6), Chris Morris run out 0 (1b), Hanuma Vihari b Shami 2 (5b), Harshal Patel c Rahul b Curran 0 (2b), Kagiso Rabada b Curran 0 (1b), Avesh Khan (not out) 4 (3b, 1x4), Sandeep Lamichhane b Curran 0 (1b); Extras (w-5, lb-6): 11; Total (in 19.2 overs): 152. FALL OF WICKETS 1-0 (Shaw, 0.1), 2-61 (Shreyas, 7.2), 3-82 (Dhawan, 9.5), 4-144 (Pant, 16.4), 5-144 (Morris, 16.5), 6-147 (Ingram, 17.4), 7-148 (Harshal, 17.6), 8148 (Vihari, 18.3), 9-152 (Rabada, 19.1). KINGS XI BOWLING R. Ashwin 4-0-31-2, Curran 2.2-0-11-4, Shami 4-0-27-2, Viljoen 3-0-22-1, Mujeeb 4-036-0, M. Ashwin 2-0-19-0. Toss: Delhi Capitals. Man­of­the­Match: Curran. KXIP won by 14 runs.

briefly, but Mandeep’s he­ roics made the difference for the host in the end.

A typical Dhoni innings

India retains Test Championship mace

Tahir was the other standout perfomer for CSK

Makes it three in-a-row; Skipper Kohli proud of the achievement

S. Dipak Ragav Chennai

Rahane fined ₹12 lakh for maintaining slow over­rate Press Trust of India Chennai

Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane has been fined ₹12 lakh for maintain­ ing a slow over­rate during the IPL match against Chennai Super Kings here. “As it was his team’s first offence of the season un­ der the IPL’s Code of Con­ duct relating to minimum over­rate offences, Mr. Ra­ hane was fined ₹12 lakh,” read an official IPL state­ ment.

While there is a lot of atten­ tion on players who can sur­ prise the opposition with their innovation, be it mys­ tery spinners or batsmen who can swing on both sides of the wicket, M.S. Dhoni showed on Sunday that so­ metimes even if your play­ book is known to the oppo­ nent, it might be just as effective. The Chennai Super Kings skipper played a typical Dhoni innings, first by nudg­ ing around and playing the percentages against the likes of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes before unleashing on a hapless Jaydev Unadkat to take his side to its third win in as many games while Royals slumped to a third straight defeat. Royals’ all­rounder Ben Stokes said: “When he comes in early, every team knows what he’s going to try and do to start with. He just takes it deep as he possibly can. He’s one of the greatest finishers to have ever graced the game of cricket. “Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say the best players in the world

NO. 1 RANKING #398299

Press Trust of India Dubai

Helping hand: Dhoni was well supported by Bravo, who shone with bat and ball. R. RAGU *

can do that. He certainly showed that tonight,” Stokes, who could have dis­ missed Dhoni on 28 if K. Gowtham had held on to a catch at covers, said. Brilliant spell While Dhoni set the game for his side, another stan­ dout performer for CSK was leg­spinner Imran Tahir, who produced a brilliant spell in tough conditions for tweakers. The heavy dew on Sunday meant bowlers struggled to grip the ball and the South African brought all his expe­ rience into play, taking the two crucial wickets of Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi

when they were getting the Royals’ chase back on track after being reduced to 14 for three. Speaking about his ef­ forts, Tahir — who now leads the wicket­takers chart — said, “I am feeling very good, very proud. I tried to use my experience but the ball was really wet. “We have to prepare our­ selves, we were not expect­ ing that much dew. We have to practice with the wet ball going forward in the games.”

< >

He’s one of the greatest finishers to have ever graced the game of cricket

India retained the ICC Test Championship Mace and won the purse of $1 million for a third year running after a memorable season saw it winning its maiden series in Australia. India topped the ICC Test team rankings on the cut­ off date of April 1 followed by New Zealand, the world body said in a statement on Monday. “Retaining the ICC Test Championship Mace once again is something we are all really proud of. “Our team has been doing well across formats but it gives us extra pleasure to come out on top of the Test rankings,” India captain Virat Kohli said. “We all know of the importance of Test cricket and of how only the best can prosper in the format,” he added. “Our team has a lot of depth and I am sure this will stand us in good stead

Very, very special: With India doing well across formats, captain Virat Kohli reiterated that winning the Test honours was paramount. FILE PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN *

once the ICC World Test Championship commences later this year. That is again

Ben Stokes

A battle between the Royals to end the losing streak P.K. Ajith Kumar JAIPUR

If the Rajasthan Royals men are feeling let down by for­ tune, they cannot be blamed. In their last match, M.S. Dhoni hadn’t opened his ac­ count, and Chennai Super Kings was wobbling at 28 for three at Chennai, when he played Jofra Archer on to his stumps. But the bails refused to come off, the Kings cap­ tain went on to make an un­ beaten 75 and led his team to a third straight win. For Ajinkya Rahane’s men, it was their third straight defeat. Theirs isn’t the only team in this plight, though. Their opponent for Tues­ day’s match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore, doesn’t know what a victory feels like this IPL season eith­ er. Unlike Rajasthan, Virat Kohli’s men know pretty well how they are getting des­ troyed by the opposition: they lost by seven wickets to Super Kings and by 118 runs CM YK

to Sunrisers Hyderabad. To be fair, they were at the receiving end of the no­ball controversy in the match against Mumbai Indians, which they lost by just six runs. The Royals, of course, were at the wrong end of an even bigger controversy — R. Ashwin’s Mankading of Jos Buttler. Moving on The memory of that incident could well be on their minds when they return to their home ground. They will have

to put that behind them, as they play the first of their three back­to­back games here. They will also want to ensure that they don’t lose opportunities the way they did in the previous games. Buttler, Rahane, Sanju Samson and Steve Smith have all looked good enough to inspire confidence in bat­ ting. But when it comes to bow­ ling, their standout perform­ er Archer needs better sup­ port from fellow­seamers like Jaydev Unadkat. It has been an even more

something we are really looking forward to as it adds more context to Test

match cricket,” Kohli said. New Zealand’s consistent performances over the past year saw it climb from third position, needing to only avoid losing the home series against Bangladesh last month to finish at the same position. The Kane Williamson­led side — he got the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for 2018 — earned $500,000 after finishing with 108 points.

Sawhney takes over as ICC chief

disappointing bowling effort from RCB. Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and co. have to do a lot better than they did against David War­ ner and Jonny Bairstow on Sunday. Not that the RCB batsmen have exactly covered them­ selves in glory. But a line­up that features Kohli, A.B. de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer and Moeen Ali could erupt any time. There is indeed much to look forward to. Neither team will still want to be looking for its first win after four matches.

Press Trust of India Dubai

Adding muscle: Jofra Archer, apart from wreaking havoc with the ball, can also contribute with the bat. R. RAGU *

Media professional Manu Sawhney on Monday took charge as chief executive of the International Cricket Council and will work along­ side Dave Richardson, who will step down after the World Cup in July. Former ESPN Star Sports MD Sawhney has been working alongside Richard­ son for the last six weeks to ensure a smooth transition. Richardson will remain with the ICC until July as ori­ ginally planned to oversee the World Cup in the United Kingdom. Sawhney was ap­ pointed in January. His appointment was rati­ fied by the ICC Board follow­ ing a global search­and­ap­ pointment process led by the apex body’s chairman Shashank Manohar and the Nominations Committee. “I am absolutely delight­ ed to be taking over the reins from David who has steered the sport so capably

Manu Sawhney.

*

FILE PHOTO

over the last seven years. I am excited by the opportun­ ities ahead,” said Sawhney. “Technology, engage­ ment, women’s cricket and driving greater values are key focus areas for us as we consider how we can inno­ vate to transform the sport’s long­term future and create a vibrant and sustainable sport globally,” he added. Sawhney is also a non­ex­ ecutive director and mem­ ber of the Audit Committee of Manchester United Ltd. A ND-NDE

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16 SPORT

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Another golden sweep by India

Saurav Ghosal scales a new peak Becomes first Indian male to break into the top­10

Yash Vardhan and Shreya triumph in style

M. Hari Kishore CHENNAI

SHOOTING

India’s top­ranked squash player Saurav Ghosal stormed into the record books on Monday when he became the first Indian male to enter the top­10 list in the world. He moved two places above from his earlier rank­ ing of 12 to and is currently the only Asian in the top­10. Two Indian women — Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal — had earlier reached the top­10 in the world rankings but failed to consolidate further. A quarterfinal finish in the 2018­2019 PSA World Cham­ pionships in Chicago for the first time in his career and the same stage finish at the prestigious Grasshopper Cup in Zurich, Switzerland, in March were instrumental in lifting Ghosal’s rankings. His previous highest was No. 11, which he achieved in October 2018. He slipped a place after the Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open tour­ naments when he made the third and second rounds. Training with David Pal­ mer, who has produced ma­ ny top­10 players, since June 2018 turned out to be a mas­ terstroke for Ghosal. “It all started last summer when I started training with David. I felt my game was more se­ cure, especially with him at

sports bureau Taoyuan (chinese taipei)

Shreya Agrawal won the ju­ nior women’s air rifle gold with a world record final score of 252.5 in the 12th Asian Airgun championship here on Monday. It was another golden sweep for India, as Yash Vardhan won the junior men’s title, apart from the team golds. With individual silver and bronze medals for Keval Prajapati and Aish­ warya Pratap Singh Tomar, apart from Mehuli Ghosh’s junior women’s individual bronze, India took its tally to 14 gold, five silver and four bronze medals. Shreya’s effort in the final, which helped her beat Park Hyejin of Korea by 1.9 point, bettered Zhao Ruozhu’s world junior record of 252.4 set last year. Incidentally, the women’s record stands against Apurvi Chandela at 252.9, set in the World Cup recently in Delhi. The trio of Shreya, Mehuli and Kavi Rakshna put to­ gether a total of 1882.2, which bettered the previous world junior record of 1880.7 set by Shreya, Elavenil Vala­ rivan and Manini Kaushik in the World Championship last September.

ATK moves past Real Kashmir

Winning team: Mehuli Ghosh, Shreya Agrawal & Kavi Rakshna, in the top row, and Shakun Bhugra, Keval Prajapati, Yash Vardhan, Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar and coach Suma Shirur pose with their spoils. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *

Yash Vardhan, Prajapati and Tomar dominated the boys’ event by sweeping the individual and team medals. Yash Vardhan beat Praja­ pati by 2.2 points for the gold, as the Indian trio pushed qualification topper Kang Jungi (628.2) of Korea to fourth place. Shreya and Yash Vardhan had earlier won the mixed ri­

The results: 10m air rifle: Ju­ nior Men: 1. Yash Vardhan 249.5 (626.0); 2. Keval Prajapati 2473 (624.2); 3. Aishwarya

Pratap Singh Tomar 226.1 (624.6). Team: 1. India 1874.8; 2. Chinese Taipei 1834.7; 3. Singapore 1802.2. Junior women: 1. Shreya Agrawal 252.5 WRJ (628.7); 2. Park Hyejin (Kor) 250.6(618.5); 3. Mehuli Ghosh 228.3 (628.8); 4. Kavi Rakshna 205.9 (624.7). Team: 1. India 1882.2 WRJ; 2. Korea 1858.5; 3. Chinese Taipei 1840.4.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI

ISL side ATK reached the Hero Super Cup quarterfi­ nals with a 3­1 win over Real Kashmir at the Kalinga Stadium on Monday. Goals from Manuel Lan­ zarote and Everton Santos in the second half gave ATK victory after the teams went into the breather locked 1­1. Steve Coppell’s side will meet Delhi Dyna­ mos on April 5.

The BCCI has allowed the All India Cricket Association for the Physically Challenged (AICAPC) to field the official Indian team for the Physical Disability World Cricket Series in the UK in August this year. “We have given recognition to AICAPC,’’ said Saba Karim, GM, Cricket Operations, BCCI. The AICAPC will not receive any funding from the national cricket body, though. The AICAPC was founded

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AICAPC was founded by Wadekar whose 78th birth anniversary was celebrated on Monday

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by Ajit Wadekar whose 78th birth anniversary on Monday was celebrated as “Ajit Wadekar Memorial Day” at a Mumbai Cricket Association facility at the Wankhede Stadium. The AICAPC has also named the Indian team as “Wadekar Warriors” with a catchline “One Team, One Dream.”

“We have at least made a start. The BCCI has given AICAPC recognition. It has taken 30­odd years to get recognition from the BCCI. We have to choose our apparel and cap,” said Umesh Kulkarni, former India Test player and a selection committee member of the AICAPC. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar applauded the work done by Wadekar who passed away last August. “It was his dream to see the AICAPC being recognised by the BCCI,” said Vengsarkar.

Ombudsman sends notices to Pandya, Rahul PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court­appoint­ ed BCCI Ombudsman Justice (Retd) D.K. Jain has issued notices to India players Har­ dik Pandya and K.L. Rahul to appear for deposition for their comments on a TV chat show. “I had issued notices last week to Hardik Pandya and Rahul asking them to appear for deposition,” Justice Jain said on Monday. However, it is not clear how the BCCI will co­ordi­ nate with Pandya and Ra­

K.L. Rahul.

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AKILESH KUMAR

hul’s respective franchises — Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab — for their deposi­ tion during the ongoing IPL.

Hardik Pandya.

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AP

It is learnt that they might depose ahead of the April 11 clash between the two teams in Mumbai.

the helm. I started backing up and reproducing a lot more of what I learnt in training. I got mentally stronger and secure. Throughout the season, wherever I was playing, I felt at home,” Ghosal said. Ghosal said the secret of success is good teamwork. He has been training with Malcolm Willstrop from the age of 18 and Damon Brown has been his physical trainer for six years now. Step by step “We built my ambition step by step. It didn’t happen overnight. It has taken years,

a lot of hard work and more importantly a lot of things that have come together and it was teamwork,” he added. The 32­year­old feels training out of India is the best way to reach greater heights in the sport. “I think Indians have to move out to reach greater heights in the sport. We don’t have top­10 players playing in India. Even in terms of coaching, the level of expertise isn’t there in the country. Experience is so­ mething that you cannot substitute and we get that abroad,” he said. The squash player is hun­

I felt my game was < > more secure, especially with him at the helm Ghosal On training with David Palmer

gry for more. “Reaching the top­10 was a goal this year. I am happy to have realised that goal. Ev­ ery player wants to be World No. 1 and I am no different. I am not taking any timelines to get there but I want to take it as it comes. “The cue is to get better and improve. If I need to change a few things to be there, I will,” he said.

The Greek player had said experienced players receive preferential treatment

Can field team in World Cricket Series in the UK in August

BHUBANESWAR

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Federer refutes Tsitsipas’ claim

AICAPC gets BCCI recognition

SPORTS BUREAU

The result: ATK 3 (Balwant Singh 26, Manuel Lanzarote 79, Everton Santos 83) bt Real Kashmir 1 (Mason Robertson 31).

fle junior team gold, while Mehuli and Prajapati took silver. Coach Suma Shirur laud­ ed the junior air rifle shoo­ ters for winning nine of the 10 possible medals, with two world records.

Reaping the benefits: Saurav Ghosal says that his current status is the result of years of hard work. PTI

“Both are playing in the IPL and the itinerary is packed with back­to­back matches and a gruelling tra­ vel schedule,” a BCCI official said. The Ombudsman, who is also the BCCI’s ad­hoc Ethics Officer, made it clear that for the matter to reach its logical conclusion, the duo needs to depose. “As per principles of natu­ ral justice, I need to hear their side. It’s up to them now to decide when they want to appear,” Justice Jain said.

ROGERSPEAK Agence France-Presse Miami

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Swiss great Roger Federer has refuted claims by Greec­ e’s Stefanos Tsitsipas that the most experienced players on the ATP Tour receive prefe­ rential treatment from offi­ cials. Federer, speaking after landing the 101st title of his career at the Miami Open with a 6­1, 6­4 triumph over defending champion John Isner, strongly disagreed. He acknowledged that umpires might interact diffe­ rently with players they are more familiar with, but said it didn’t amount to preferen­ tial treatment. Tough one “It’s a tough one but what I do feel sometimes is that on the outside courts, more than just preferential treat­ ment to the top guys, they are tougher on the rules,” said Federer. “You do something — bang, warning. It’s like there is no messing about. “But with the top guys on the main courts, I think the umpires know them, they know their problems, they know how they behave and how they will react, so they know what acting stupid or silly means and what normal is.

No bias: Roger Federer feels it is easier for chair umpires to handle the top players in the circuit. AFP *

“So because we know each other very well, I think it’s easier for an umpire to handle a top player who they know over an up­and­com­ ing guy like Tsitsipas or a young guy and that some­ times gets lost in translation and maybe bad mistakes can happen. “But I don’t see preferen­ tial treatment, there shouldn’t be,” Federer said. “If I get warnings — I got

one recently — it’s normal. So they should just, based on what happens, take those decisions and I really feel the umpires do that. “I am sorry that Stefanos feels that way.” Protected Tsitsipas elaborated on Twit­ ter in response to a question from a Twitter follower, say­ ing that despite Federer be­ ing his “favourite” the 20­

time Grand Slam champion, along with the likes of top players like Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, are protect­ ed by umpires. “I think players that have been doing really well over the years, players that are generally much respected in the tennis world have privi­ leges when it comes to cer­ tain rules and umpire deci­ sions,” the World No. 10 wrote.

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THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12589

■ ACROSS 1 Silence is so valuable (6) 4 Save government, harp about informative statistical chart (3,5) 9 Letter from doctor boy's about to receive (6) 10 Blank cheque for a fettered being? (4,4) 12 Cast lacking in talent for Doctor Strange? (8)

CM YK

(set by Scintillator)

13 Pressure maintained along this is excluding old punctures (6) 15 Food burning? Maid gives out a chime (4) 16 Peace organizations overseeing onset of peace — one cast away going scot­free (10) 19 From being in good spirits, fell off with hue and cry (10) 20 Incognito, a colleague of mine (4) 23 Forsaken woman with a weapon advanced near husband (6) 25 Remarkable scenery surrounding river in county (8) 27 Behind bars; June eighth: he escaped mysteriously (2,3,3) 28 Indian brain and heart suffering outside India? That's not new (6) 29 In concert — on time, got here after a struggle (8) 30 One is terrible, not just at making omelette (3,3) ■ DOWN 1 Trouble in the Middle East to overwhelm intelligence agency, in retrospect (4,3) 2 I'm unclean, getting cleaned gives brightness (9)

SUDOKU

FAITH

Unconventional bhakti

3 Last? Last, definitely not first! (6) 5 Milieu in the interior of the restaurant (4) 6 Northbound engineer is somewhat mortified like a rock (8) 7 Reporters can find Djokovic possibly bitter (5) 8 Under extremely hard conditions, for ten decades (7) 11 Expel from assembly (7) 14 First person transferred to second, it's said, thousands in valuable metal (7) 17 Nod hard to get along with vocal Dubai leader (9) 18 Trinket of gold — quote a bid (8) 19 Burn up paper during Yatra ride (7) 21 Getting trimmer? Cannot hinge on squat (7) 22 It signals on seeing faulty train blocking terminal in Pune (6) 24 Take the label off junta government (5) 26 Dash for control (4)

Solution to puzzle 12588

Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

Bhakti is explained as the expression of love towards God in one’s heart that naturally flows in the form of actions. For in­ stance, the extent and intensity of love to the Lord that springs in Kannappan translates itself into a spontaneous act of worship that does not conform to the traditional modes adopted by devotees. Yet his devotion meets the highest standards and hence is accepted by the Lord. It only shows that the Lord looks into the heart of the devotee and acknowledges the love surging in it, pointed out Sri B. Da­ modhara Dikshitar in a discourse. Kannappan is born in a fa­ mily of hunters. He is proficient in hunting animals. He is basically simple and unlearned. Once when he goes hunting with his companions, he kills a boar. They start cooking it and he goes in search of water. As he nears a mountain range, where he is told abides a God who removes all human failings, he is moved by some strange feeling within him. Sekkizhar describes the inner transformation in him when he goes up the hill and sees the God. It is as if a great burden has been lifted off his shoul­ ders. He embraces the linga form and is unwilling to leave the Lord alone. Who will give Him food, he wonders. He promises the Lord that he will quickly bring the tasty meat for Him. He selects the best pieces of the cooked meat after testing it for taste. He plucks the wild flowers and takes wa­ ter from the river in his mouth and worships the Lord thus. Though this way of worship is totally shocking and op­ posed to tradition, the Lord is pleased, thereby endorsing the fact that selfless love is the most essential element in Bhakti. It is no wonder that Adi Sankara and a host of devo­ tees such as Manikkavachagar are inspired by Kannappan’s unique display of devotion. A ND-NDE

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TV PICKS Serie A: Sony Ten 2, 10.30 p.m. & 12.30 a.m. (Wednesday) Premier League: SS Select 1 & 2, 12.15 a.m. (Wednesday) La Liga: Sony Ten 1, 12.15 a.m. (Wednesday) NBA: Sony ESPN, 7.30 a.m. Super Cup: Star Sports 3, 8.15 p.m.

Benzema’s last-minute winner saves Real’s blushes Breaks Huesca hearts with his 14th league goal of the season EURO LEAGUES Agence France-Presse Madrid

IN BRIEF

Praful set to be first Indian on FIFA executive panel NEW DELHI

All India Football Federation president Praful Patel is set to become the first Indian to be elected member of the FIFA executive council. According to AIFF sources, Patel is all but sure to be one of the five council members from the Asian Football Confederation when the regional body holds its elections in Kuala Lumpur on April 6. The term will run from 2019 to 2023. PTI

Winning strike: Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema celebrates with Dani Ceballos and Gareth Bale.

Leclerc takes positives from Bahrain heartbreak

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REUTERS

Karim Benzema stopped Real Madrid’s underwhelm­ ing La Liga season going from bad to worse on Sunday after firing a last­minute win­ ner to hand it a barely­de­ served 3­2 winner over bot­ tom club Huesca. Humbled by Ajax in the Champions League and dumped out of the Copa Del Rey by Barcelona, third­ placed Real showed little signs of improvement in Zi­ nedine Zidane’s second game in charge but Benze­ ma, subject to rumours he may leave Madrid in the sum­ mer for Manchester United, struck with a fine curling fin­ ish to snatch the three points. Zidane’s son Luca was gi­ ven his second ever start bet­ ween the sticks for Real but got off to the worst possible

start, picking the ball out of his own net within three mi­ nutes after Cucho Hernan­ dez lashed home Ezequiel Avila low cross. Isco levelled the scores in the 25th minute when he tapped home a Brahim Diaz cross after Benzema’s low shot was well saved, but it was the away side — playing its first ever La Liga game at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium — which went closer going into the break ahead. Zidane junior had to be al­ ert to stop Damian Musto from glancing home a head­ er nine minutes before the break, while Avila punched the ground in frustration in first half stoppage time after flashing a power shot over from the edge of the box. Real continued to disap­ point in the second half but took the lead just after the hour mark thanks to Dani Ce­ ballos, who bundled home the second. Bale then missed a glorious opportunity to put

the game beyond Huesca when he somehow put Alva­ ro Odriozola’s low cross over the bar from just yards out. Huesca pounced on that awful miss to draw level when Xabier Etxeita po­ wered home Moi Gomez’s cross from a short corner. However, Benzema was on hand to break Huesca hearts with his 14th league goal of the season. The results: Premier League: Liverpool 2 (Firmino 16, Alderweireld 90og) bt Tottenham 1 (Lucas 70). La Liga: Real Madrid 3 (Isco 25, Dani Ceballos 62, Benzema 89) bt Huesca 2 (Cucho Hernandez 3, Etxeita 74); Valladolid 1 (Keko Gontan 9) drew with Real Sociedad 1 (Oyarzabal 79); Sevilla 0 lost to Valencia 1 (Parejo 45-pen). Serie A: Bologna 2 (Pulgar 68pen, Destro 90+6) bt Sassuolo 1 (Boga (90+2); Inter Milan 0 lost to Lazio 1 (Milinkovic-Savic 13). Bundesliga: Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (Kostic 45, 64, Jovic 84) bt Stuttgart 0.

Kevin Kisner is Match Play champion

Karunaratne apologises

Molinari beats Bjerregaard to finish third

Agence France-Presse

Hawks beat Bucks on the buzzer LOS ANGELES

Rookie Trae Young (in pic) drained a buzzer-beating basket to give Atlanta Hawks a 136-135 NBA overtime victory on Sunday over a depleted Milwaukee Bucks. Justin Anderson led Hawks with 24 points and 12 rebounds. The results: Denver Nuggetrs 90 lost to Washington Wizards 95; San Antonio Spurs 106 lost to Sacramento Kings 113; Golden State Warriors 137 bt Charlotte Hornets 90; New Orleans Pelicans 102 lost to LA Lakers 130; Oklahoma City Thunder 103 lost to Dallas Mavericks 106; Atlanta Hawks 136 bt Milwaukee Bucks 135; LA Clippers 113 bt Memphis Grizzlies 96. AFP

Mbappe fan sneaks on­pitch selfie PARIS

A cheeky Paris Saint-Germain fan ran onto the pitch at Toulouse on Sunday and snapped a sneaky selfie of himself with Kylian Mbappe before being nabbed by security staff. The supporter, wearing a PSG jacket, clambered out of the stands during the Ligue 1 contest and ran slowly up behind the 20-year-old World Cup winner, who jumped with surprise when he saw the fan brandishing his telephone. The young man was then wrestled to the floor by security, although Mbappe shook his hand and exchanged a few words with him before he was led away. AFP

McIlroy climbs to World No. 3; Johnson stays top PARIS

Rory McIlroycontinued his rise up the world rankings on Monday as the four-time Major champion jumped one spot to third, while Dustin Johnson retained his narrow lead at the top. Tiger Woods climbed two spots to 12th, while Match Play winner Kevin Kisner rose from 50th to 25th. AFP

Terms 2017 Formula Two setback in Monaco as the worst

One for the future: Charles Leclerc’s driving in the Bahrain GP has caught the eye of many, including rival teams, and all agree on great things for him. AFP *

Agence France-Presse Sakhir

Charles Leclerc focused on the positives on Monday af­ ter his heartbreaking bid for a maiden F1 win was foiled by engine problems in Sun­ day’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The 21­year­old Monegas­ que, who emerged as the sport’s rising star as the youngest pole­sitter in Fer­ rari’s history, had victory in his sights with 10 laps re­ maining when he suffered a power loss that saw him drop to third as Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished first and second. His misfortune was caused by a single cylinder failure, Ferrari said, quash­ ing suggestions of a problem with the turbo­charger. “To be honest, how I felt in the car, I thought that eve­ rything would blow up a few laps later,” said Leclerc. “But, that was not the case and we still finished third. Finding pace “From the whole weekend, there are a lot of positives to take. After Australia, we were quite far off. Now, I think we have found some pace. We came here with a good car, which was very positive for the team and

Press Trust of India Bengaluru

SAKHIR (BAHRAIN)

Teenage rookie Lando Norris says he has no idea how he managed to finish an impressive sixth to score his first Formula One points in Sunday’s Bahrain GP. “I don’t know where it came from,” the 19-year-old said. “... It was fun. I could have passed Kimi Raikkonen a couple of laps earlier, but I was trying to be sensible and not take risks. I just used my own initiative.” AFP

CM YK

Agence France-Presse

Sri Lanka’s Test captain Di­ muth Karunaratne apolo­ gised on Monday for his “unbecoming behaviour” after being arrested for drunken­driving in an acci­ dent that left a taxi driver injured. Karunaratne, 30, was ta­ ken to a magistrate who suspended his driving li­ cence and fixed a trial for May 2. The cricket star was also asked to take a medi­ cal test. Police told the court that while driving under the in­ fluence of liquor, Karuna­ ratne went through a red light and hit a taxi whose driver was hospitalised for minor injuries after the pre­dawn crash on Sunday. “My actions were utterly unbecoming of a Sri Lan­ kan national cricketer and I do apologise to all of you for this incident,” Karuna­ ratne said in a statement. The incident came as Sri Lanka decides who will be captain for the national team at the World Cup in England. Karunaratne, who led Sri Lanka to a stunning Test series victory against South Africa last month, had been one of the favourites. Sri Lanka’s cricket board said in a statement it would investigate the incident “in order to take necessary ac­ tion.”

Washington

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Kevin Kisner, who shared a runner­up spot in last year's British Open, defeated Matt Kuchar 3&2 in Sunday's WGC Match Play championship fi­ nal to win his third career PGA title. On a cold and windy last day of the 64­player show­ down at Austin (Texas) Country Club, Kisner domi­ nated 2013 winner Kuchar in the all­American final to cap­ ture the $1.745 million top prize. “It was gruelling and the winds were tough,” Kisn­ er said. “It was a hard week but I prevailed and I'm world golf champion.” Kisner, last year’s runner­ up to Bubba Watson, was

48th seed but became the lowest­seeded winner since Australian Geoff Ogilvy. In the morning semifinals, Kisner edged Italy's Frances­ co Molinari 1­up and Kuchar dispatched Danish 50th seed Lucas Bjerregaard 1­up. At 40, Kuchar would have been the oldest champion in tournament history and the first player to win three titles in a PGA season since Steve Stricker in 2009. In the con­ solation match, Molinari de­ feated Bjerregaard 4&2. The results: Final: Kevin Kisner (USA) bt Matt Kuchar (USA) 3&2; Third place: Francesco Molinari (ITA) bt Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 4&2. Semifinals: Kisner bt Molinari 1-up; Kuchar bt Bjerregaard 1-up.

On top of the world! Kevin Kisner of the United States with the Walter Hagen Cup. AFP *

Dimuth Karunaratne. *

TOM DULAT/GETTY IMAGES

Malaysia tour will help us improve in key areas: Savita HOCKEY

Rookie Norris still can’t believe it!

shows they have done an amazing job. To lose the lead this way is always a shame and a disappointment.” He said it was not the cruellest setback of his rac­ ing career. “No, it was not that extreme,” he explained. “Formula Two, in Monaco, in 2017, was probably the worst me and the worst I’ve ever had.” In that race, he dominat­ ed the contest on home soil in front of his family and friends before safety car confusion and a suspension breakage conspired to wreck his hopes. “This is not so bad. It’s still a podium and it’s my first in F1 so I want to enjoy it. It was not the weekend we wanted, but we should be happy with third despite the problems.” Ferrari team chief Mattia Binotto said: “The engine will go back to Maranello for careful checks because when something like this happens you need to take your time. But the engine was running at the end of the race so it is still able to run. We will use it certainly in China when we have an entire Friday to assess its be­ haviour, functionality and performance.”

Colombo

India hockey team skipper Savita on Monday said the Malaysia tour will help the team improve on key areas ahead of the Olympic quali­ fiers, slated to be held later this year. An 18­member wo­ men’s hockey team will play a five­match series against Malaysia, starting April 4. ‘Confidence’ “Earlier this year, we played in Spain where we did well against the hosts and Ire­ land. We will carry the same confidence into Malaysia

think we have < > Igood depth in the team now with quite a few talented youngsters and look to improve on key areas which we felt needed to be worked on after analys­ ing our performance in Spain,” Savita said. “Whatever we are doing now is all part of the prepa­ rations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying event later this year and we are looking to improve as a team as well as our individual per­ formance,” explained Savita. Going into the tour with some key players missing due to injuries such as expe­

rienced striker Rani, midfiel­ der Namita Toppo and drag­ flicker Gurjit Kaur, Savita said the tour will be a good platform for the youngsters to step up and make use of the opportunity. “I think we have good depth in the team now with quite a few talented young­ sters who have had good in­ ternational exposure. They know what is required at this level and are aware of their individual responsibilities. “This will be a good tour for them to show their capa­ bilities so that they will stand a chance to make the team for the all important 2020 Tokyo Olympics Qualifying event this year,” she said. A ND-NDE

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IN BRIEF

Reiwa: a new imperial era name for Japan It signals the new emperor’s reign when he ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne next month and top­secret discussions, the two “kanji” characters were unveiled to reveal a name that will last as long as new emperor Naruhito’s rule. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the term “Reiwa” came from the “Manyoshu”, an anthology of Japanese poems dating back 1,200 years that “symbolises our nation’s profound public cul­ ture and long tradition”. “Just like amazing plum flowers in full bloom that sig­ nal the arrival of spring after

Agence France-Presse Tokyo

Japan on Monday revealed the name of the era that will define the new emperor’s reign when he ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne next month following the first abdication in around 200 years. The new imperial name consists of two characters: “Rei”, which can mean “or­ der” but also “auspicious” and “Wa”, usually translated as “peace” or “harmony.” After weeks of speculation

U.S. rapper Nipsey Hussle shot dead LOS ANGELES

Grammy­nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle was shot dead in Los Angeles on Sunday, sparking an outpouring of grief from fellow celebrities as the city’s mayor blamed “senseless gun violence.” Mr. Hussle, 33, was shot in front of his own clothing store at close range, by a man who fled in a getaway car. Two other people were wounded, according to police. AFP

With 1.5 billion users a month, Gmail turns 15 SAN FRANCISCO

Google’s email service Gmail that has nearly 1.5 billion monthly active users turned 15 on Monday. Google is reportedly testing a set of new inbox features like pinned messages, reminders and category bundles for the new Gmail for Android. Gmail started with an initial storage capacity of one gigabyte per user on April 1, 2004. IANS

Scientists trace likely methane source on Mars PARIS

Scientists on Monday confirmed the presence of the life­indicating gas on the Red Planet as well as where it might have come from. Two independent investigations pointed to an ice sheet east of Gale Crater as the likely source for the gas. AFP

New beginning: Girls taking a selfie as the ‘Reiwa’ era is announced on TV, in Tokyo. AFP *

Virtual assistants may not be ideal for generating revenue

bitter cold, each and every Japanese person can hope for the future and make their own flowers blossom,” ad­ ded the Prime Minister. “It is the first time it comes from a Japanese text” rather than Chinese, noted Mr. Abe. The 85­year­old Emperor Akihito will step down on April 30 in favour of Crown Prince Naruhito, who will take the throne the next day. Crowds gathered around Japan to watch live broad­ casts of the announcement.

22 kg of plastic found in dead whale’s belly Associated Press Milan

Regulators require tech firms to mention if the results are ‘sponsored’ or ‘advert’ Reuters SAN FRANCISCO

At an investor conference last month, Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler identified a vexing challenge for the company’s most prized app: its virtual assistant. Searches via Google Assis­ tant may not be ideal for gen­ erating revenue, he suggested. When results are visible, not merely oral, “you have room for advertising, of course,” said Mr. Schindler, whose company grosses an estimated $70 billion annual­ ly through ads above search results. The Alphabet Inc compa­ ny declined to elaborate on Mr. Schindler’s remarks. But Google’s conundrum is one facing several tech compa­ nies whose users increasing­ ly seek help from voice­ena­ bled speakers and gadgets. The question is most acute for Google, which

Till now, consumers are getting ad­free answers from virtual assistants. ISTOCKPHOTO *

holds the world’s biggest search advertising business. So far, consumers get answer from virtual assis­ tants without ads. And tech firms have not shown how they would include the “sponsored” or “ad” dis­ claimers that regulators require. Curated output One Google Assistant feature already is close to violating disclosure rules, according to five advertising attorneys contacted by Reuters. Goo­

gle contends it is in compliance. The feature recommends plumbers and other local home service providers without disclosing that the results draw from a curated database mainly composed of companies that joined its marketing programme. “It’s not a completely clean recommendation,” said Michelle Cohen, an at­ torney. “If there’s a financial commitment, you’re sup­ posed to disclose it.” Conversing with assis­ tants is routine for millions of people globally, whether on bedside alarm clocks, car audio systems or even high­ end headphones. More than 1 billion such devices have Google Assistant, 100 mil­ lion Amazon.com Inc’s Alexa and at least 1 billion Apple Inc’s Siri, according to the companies and estimates. The Federal Trade Com­ mission, which regulates de­ ceptive business practices in

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Vantage point

#398299

the U.S., has long required search engines to inform us­ ers in a “noticeable and un­ derstandable” fashion when results are connected to fi­ nancial relationships. That is why consumers see “ad” or “sponsored” labels next to Google results on screens. Google gets paid when us­ ers contact providers through the ads, which are labelled “sponsored” on Google.com. But when Goo­ gle Assistant responds to “plumber” queries with the same “Google Guaranteed” options, the assistant does not offer any disclaimer or further explanation. Google said that the re­ sults are not labelled as ads “because Google isn’t paid for these results” when deli­ vered on the Assistant rather than Google.com. The attorneys said that us­ ers should be informed that Google Assistant results, even if not paid for, stem from a filtered database.

In Norway, electric cars outsell others

An eight­metre sperm whale was found dead off Sardinia with 22 kg of plas­ tic in its belly, prompting the World Wildlife Founda­ tion (WWF) to sound an alarm on Monday over the dangers of plastic waste in the Mediterranean Sea. The environmental group said the garbage re­ covered from the sperm whale’s stomach included a corrugated tube for elec­ trical works, plastic plates, shopping bags, tangled fishing lines and a washing detergent package with its bar code still legible. The female whale beached off the northern coast of Sardinia last week, within the vast Pelagos ma­ rine sanctuary that was created as a haven for dol­ phins, whales and other sea life. WWF said plastic is one of the greatest threats to marine life and has killed at least five other whales over the last two years from Eu­ rope to Asia.

In Poland, Catholic priests burn Harry Potter books

A copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling. REUTERS *

Agence France-Presse Warsaw

Catholic priests in Poland burned books they say are sacrilegious this weekend, including tomes from Brit­ ish author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of fanta­ sy novels. “We obey the Word,” priests said in a Fa­ cebook post. One passage exhorting believers to destroy the ene­ mies of God includes the command to “burn their idols in the fire”. The post, on a page run by the Catholic “SMS from Heaven” evangelical group, stirred controversy. Priests are seen saying prayers over the fire pit where other items. The Polish Episcopate and local bishop acknow­ ledged the incident but de­ clined to comment. The lo­ cal parish did not answer calls. The book burning took place “after the 10:00 a.m. mass on Sunday, at 11:00 a.m.” an unnamed parish­ ioner at the church in the northern Polish city of Gdansk told the TVN24 commercial news channel. “And these offerings, which were brought (to the church) during the week, were taken in front of the church and there was a bon­ fire.” Parishioners were asked to bring items linked to “ne­ gative energy” and supersti­

tious beliefs, including good luck charms, the parishion­ er added. Going backwards “I’d like to believe this is a joke... Seriously? Are people burning fantasy literature in the 21st century in some kind of sick ritual?!” one Fa­ cebook user said in a com­ ment underneath the post. “It’s hard for me to be­ lieve that we’re so back­ ward!” the user added. Other Facebook users, however, backed the book burning. “Get rid of everyth­ ing that does not please God and see how your life will change,” one person posted. The Harry Potter series of books focusses on the ad­ ventures of young wizard Harry Potter as he struggles against the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. It has so­ metimes drawn criticism from conservative circles for what they say is its focus on witchcraft. This incident comes as Poland’s influential Roman Catholic church struggles to deal with the fallout of reve­ lations about paedophilia among priests that are un­ precedented in this over­ whelmingly Catholic coun­ try. Last month, the Polish episcopate admitted for the first time that nearly 400 of its clergy had sexually abused children and minors over the last three decades.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono footage resurfaces after 50 years

Associated Press

Wooden ball: A view of the Erlebnisholzkugel, a spherical wooden observation tower, during its inauguration in Steinberg am See, southern Germany, on Monday. AFP *

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COPENHAGEN

Agence France-Presse

In a symbolic first, electric cars outsold fossil fuel­po­ wered ones in Norway last month. Christina Bu, the Norwe­ gian Electric Vehicle Asso­ ciation’s general secretary, said that sales figures show 58.4% of new cars sold in the country in March were battery­powered, calling it “historically high.” Bu added Monday that electric cars’ share of the market in the first three months of 2019 was 48.4% and is expected to hover around 50% for the whole year. Norway has waived hef­ ty vehicle import duties and registration and sales taxes for buyers of electric cars to boost sales. Owners don’t pay road tolls. The aim to have all new cars in the Scandinavian country be electric by 2025.

The Hague

Fifty years after Beatles member John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously staged a honeymoon “bed­in” for peace in an Amsterdam ho­ tel, a Dutchman has un­ earthed 30 minutes of co­ lour footage of the event from his cellar. The couple spent a week mostly under the sheets at the Hilton hotel to spread a pacifist message — smoking, eating, singing and playing guitar while receiving jour­ nalists for interviews.

John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. AFP *

The European leg of their honeymoon, which includ­

ed an unusual press confe­ rence in Vienna with the gla­ mour pair obscured inside a giant “bag”, was a huge me­ dia event — each step cap­ tured by photographers and videographers. This included a Dutch team shooting footage for a two­part, 84­minute docu­ mentary, a kind of video di­ ary filmed at the pair's re­ quest. It was broadcast only once and shown at the Edin­ burgh Film Festival the same year before disappearing in­ to the archives of broadcas­ ter KRO.

Cashmere cardigans, gold dummy: luxury befitting a royal baby High­end brands are seeking to capitalise on affluent parents’ demand for costly items Reuters LONDON

From a $112,000 diamond­ and­gold dummy to a $1,320 Gucci baby tracksuit, you can never be too young to enjoy a little luxury. As Britain’s Prince Harry and his American wife Megh­ an Markle prepare to wel­ come their first child, there is no shortage of high­end brands they can turn to for nursery furniture, baby clothing and plenty of toys. Personalised cots, cashm­ ere cardigans and traditional rocking horses are among luxury items on offer for youngsters, with an array of brands seeking to capitalise on affluent parents’ demand for such costly items. “It’s grown into a huge market. It’s been hugely CM YK

Royal customers: Canadian envoy to the U.K. Janice Charette presents Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan baby gifts. AP *

helped by the royals because it gives a lot of these brands an international platform,” said Kate Freud, editor at large of luxury parenting ma­ gazines Baby and Little London. “You can be looking at anything from a simple cot­

ton baby grow that’s £90 pounds ($117) ... to a Burber­ ry changing bag which is £850, and beyond. Some of the prices are really eye­wa­ tering but parents are pre­ pared to pay it.” Among those providing luxury baby products is

Spanish company Suommo whose Dodo diamond and pure gold dummy is priced at $1,12,240. An 18­carat gold plated cot costs €60,000 eu­ ros. Other firms offer bes­ poke mattresses, gold high chairs or silver rattles. Harry and Meghan, known as the Duke and Du­ chess of Sussex, have re­ vealed little during the preg­ nancy. The Duchess of Sussex told well­wishers in January she was six months pregnant but the couple did not know the baby’s gender. British media have report­ ed they have picked neutral colours for the nursery at their new Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor and pu­ blished a picture of a car with pram maker iCandy’s logo arriving at their gates.

Harry’s cousin Zara Phil­ lips is an ambassador for iCandy, whose pushchairs sell for up to 1,500 pounds ($1,956). Baby fashion Like his or her cousins — Prince William’s children Ge­ orge, Charlotte and Louis — baby Sussex will likely be an influencer. When the trio have been photographed wearing chil­ drenswear brands like Ra­ chel Riley, Pepa & Company and Amaia, many parents have swiftly shopped the same looks. “I can imagine (Meghan) mixing the traditional brands with a more contem­ porary spin,” Ms. Freud said. “Whatever she ends up do­ ing, it’s going to be a sellout.” A ND-NDE

Join https://t.me/EducationZones tuesday O april 2, 2019

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Kant Enclave demolition

Missing youths found dead

Stories from the chawl

Let’s talk old school

Authorities pull down 10 structures in Kant Enclave in Faridabad amid protest by residents Page 2

Mystery shrouds death of two youths, earlier reported missing, whose bodies were found in a canal Page 3

Madhuri Dixit-Nene and her husband on turning producers and why they chose to release 15 August online Page 5

With ‘vintage’ being a buzzword for 2019, there is an air of collectibility exuded from these throwback gadgets Page 6

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IN BRIEF

Murder of judge’s kin: 5 witnesses examined GURUGRAM

A PAGE 4

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Cancel FIR against us, appeals Bhondsi family GURUGRAM

The Muslim family in Bhondsi who was attacked on March 21 by a group of men, on Monday made an appeal to the district administration to cancel the FIR registered against them and threatened to migrate to a safer place if their demand was not met. CITY

A PAGE 3

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Damini Nath

With speculation of an al­ liance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress refusing to die down, AAP moved its cam­ paign for the Lok Sabha elec­ tion in Delhi up a gear on Monday, holding nine public meetings in a day. Having announced candi­ dates for all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi last month, AAP has been campaigning across the city for weeks now. But, AAP leaders as well as some in the Congress have kept the possibility of an alliance open. Responding to a question about recent reports of the Congress offering a 4­3 seat­ sharing arrangement in Del­ hi, AAP Delhi convener Go­ pal Rai said, “Which formu­ la? The one that is running on TV? TV channels are re­ porting that the Congress has offered 3­3­1 or 4­3 in Delhi, three seats in Haryana and zero seats in Punjab. If they are giving zero seats,

In a first, NSA invoked against gangster in UP Noida

The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration on Monday invoked the stringent Na­ tional Security Act against a gangster for allegedly firing at a security guard at the construction site of a Chi­ nese smartphone firm. Senior officials said slap­ ping the NSA against prime accused Robin for firing at a foreign firm’s guard was the first­of­its­kind action in Ut­ tar Pradesh as such an act could jeopardise interna­ tional trade and ties and vi­ tiate investment climate in the region. On January 31, a few Sun­ dar Bhati gang members had opened fire on the se­ curity guard deployed at the construction site of Oppo smartphone factory in Grea­ ter Noida. To secure contracts Later, it had emerged that it was done at the behest of lo­ cal people who wanted to secure contracts for the firm’s civil works like those for water supply and tran­

Says CM at a public meeting in the city; appeals to Delhiites to vote for AAP Staff Reporter NEW DELHI

Stating that Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats could prove vital for whoever forms the next government, Aam Aad­ mi Party national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Ar­ vind Kejriwal on Monday said he would make granting Delhi full statehood a prere­ quisite for AAP’s support to the government. Addressing three public meetings in the city on Mon­ day evening, Mr. Kejriwal ap­ pealed to Delhiites to vote for AAP with the aim of “making Delhi a full State”, and not getting caught up in “making a Prime Minister”.

channels are < > TV reporting that the Congress has offered 3­3­1 or 4­3 in Delhi, three seats in Haryana and zero seats in Punjab. If they are giving zero seats, how is that an offer? There is no point in joking how is that an offer? There is no point in joking.”

Gopal Rai AAP Delhi convener

‘Cong said no to tie-up’ Mr. Rai said the Congress had already “said no” to an alliance, referring to a meet­ ing of Opposition leaders at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar’s resi­ dence in February, where, according to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had declined the offer. He said the Congress had neither publicly nor private­ ly said it would be ready for alliance, despite remarks from some leaders of the party in support of the idea. “We are holding nine pu­

blic meetings today to cam­ paign for seven MPs. We are not waiting. We are fully committed to our campaign in support of full statehood for Delhi,” he said, referring to the AAP’s central theme for the Lok Sabha campaign in Delhi. He added that it appeared the Congress was in a state of “maha confusion” and was weakening the Opposi­ tion parties in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala, by contesting and splitting the anti­BJP votes, and eventually “strengthen­ ing the BJP”.

sportation, they said. “It was not just an act of firing, District Magistrate Brajesh Narain Singh said as he briefed reporters along with Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna. “A security guard of an in­ ternational company was fired at, this could have im­ pacted foreign relations. A lot of points are to be consi­ dered before invoking the NSA. It is a serious act, Mr. Singh said. Announcing the invoca­ tion of NSA against Robin, whose bail plea is to be heard by a court here on Tuesday, Mr. Singh said, “If foreign companies don’t find the atmosphere safe and conducive, if they feel unsafe, it would have an ov­ erall adverse effect in the re­ gion. Investments and the­ reby, employment opportunities would be af­ fected, leading to a public order situation.” Mr. Krishna said the other gang members involved in the attack have been arrest­ ed and booked under the Gangsters Act.

Lists reasons At the last rally of the day in Raghubir Nagar in west Del­ hi, Mr. Kejriwal listed out all the reasons he thinks Delhi should be a full State — so that his government can im­ plement 85% reservation for Delhi students and jobseek­ ers in colleges and govern­ ment jobs respectively, im­ prove law and order through State government­control over police and provide af­ fordable housing for all Delhiites. “Maybe we won’t have to

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during a public meeting at Raghubir Nagar in west Delhi, ahead of the Lok Sabha poll, on Monday. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR *

launch a movement [for full statehood]. There are seven seats in Delhi. This time they are nervous about each and every seat. With seven seats, a government can be formed or can fall. Maybe their go­ vernment being formed is up to us. We will say ‘make Del­ hi a full state first’,” he said. At the rally at Janakpuri, which was earlier in the evening, Mr. Kejriwal said

Bus driver shot dead in front of 5­year­old son Family suspects involvement of relatives of his younger brother’s wife #398299

Hemani Bhandari

He had fired at a foreign firm’s guard Press Trust of India

‘Will approach every party over statehood’

Party campaign gains momentum, 9 meetings held in a day NEW DELHI

Five witnesses were examined in connection with the murder of the wife and son of an Additional District and Sessions Judge in October last year, at a local court here on Monday. CITY

We are not waiting for an alliance, says AAP

we reached < > When our home, my

NEW DELHI

A 40­year­old cluster bus driver was shot dead while he was holding his five­year­ old son on Sunday night in north­east Delhi’s New Us­ manpur. The family suspects the murder to be a case of honour killing and an out­ come of revenge. The crime scene was about 500 metres from a post police as well as from New Usmanpur police sta­ tion respectively. Recalling the incident, victim Hakimuddin’s wife Shahana, 30, said that the couple and two of their chil­ dren including five­year­old Umar had gone for dinner at their family house in Seelam­ pur and were on their way home to the rented accom­ modation when the incident happened at 10.30 p.m. Bike-borne assailants “When we reached our home, my husband asked me to go inside and he went to a nearby store with Umar because the boy wanted to buy some snacks. He was walking to the store when four persons on two bikes came and started firing in his

husband asked me to go inside and he went to a nearby store with Umar because the boy wanted to buy some snacks The victim, Hakimuddin. *

Shahana Victim’s wife

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

direction,” said the wife. According to Shahana, the boy told his father “Papa wo tumhe goli maar rahe hain [They are shooting at you] and in a fraction of a second, they shot about eight rounds at my husband. He fell on the ground along with my son. Thankfully, they didn’t shoot my son or the bullet didn’t hit him,” she said. Leaving his father on the road, the five­year­old rushed home to inform his mother. “Ammi, papa mar gaye… papa ko goli maar di [Mother, father is dead… he has been shot],” he told the mother, she claimed. As the accused fled the spot, Hakimuddin was rushed to Jag Pravesh Chan­ dra Hospital where he was

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‘Malnutrition claimed 244 lives in 4 years’ Reveals RTI query as city sees cases of nutrition deficiency, obesity­related diseases

declared brought dead. Hakimuddin’s family said they suspect involvement of the family of his younger brother’s wife as the two fa­ milies have been at logger­ heads for nearly a year since the couple ran away and got married against the wishes of the woman’s family. Against the relationship Shahana said that her broth­ er­in­law Shahzad fell in love with a neighbour, Uzma, but the woman’s parents were against the relationship as they did not approve of love marriages. “The girl ran away from home and the two got mar­ ried in court. They came to our house. Since then, her family has enmity with us,” the wife said. Hakimuddin’s

sister Nasreen said that the family had asked Uzma to re­ turn to her house but she had refused. The family said that about eight months ago, the two fa­ milies engaged in a clash on the same issue in which a neighbour, who was trying to pacify the situation, was stabbed to death allegedly by Hakimuddin’s brothers Shahzad and Mahumuddin. The police said that both the brothers are lodged in jail on murder charge. “When we were leaving from the Seelampur house on Sunday night, we saw Uz­ ma’s family members watch­ ing us. I told my husband the same but he asked me to ig­ nore it,” Shahana said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North­East) Atul Tha­ kur said that the police have taken note of the suspicion raised by the family but the murder is under investiga­ tion. “Some suspects are be­ ing interrogated. The motive of murder will be ascer­ tained once arrests are made,” he said. Hakimuddin is survived by his wife and six children. SEE ALSO A PAGE 3

NEW DELHI

The Capital, from 2013 to 2016, recorded 244 deaths due to malnutrition in city hospitals, reveals an RTI reply from the Delhi government’s Directorate of Economic and Statistics and Office of the Chief Registrar (births and deaths). “In Delhi, the population most vulnerable to deaths due to malnutrition includes children, elderly, socio­economically disadvantaged uninsured, low­income group children, the homeless, patients with HIV and other chronic health conditions, including mental illness,” explained senior Dietician Mansi Chaudhary at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh. CM YK

In India, 23% of women and 20% of men are considered undernourished while 21% of women and 19% of men are overweight or obese, according to figures released by the Union Health Ministry. “Delhi too is seeing malnutrition and obesity­ related diseases running parallel. There is a simultaneous occurrence of over nutrition and undernutrition among children and adults,” said RTI activist Rajhans Bansal who had sought the information. Serious burden According to Ms. Chaudhary, Delhi too as the rest of the country faces a serious burden of

undernutrition which includes childhood stunting, anaemia in women of reproductive age and overweight adult women. “In India, malnutrition problem results not from

calorie intake but from dependence on a carbohydrate­based diet low in protein and fat. Another factor trigging malnutrition is inadequate sanitation which triggers and increase infection rates,” she added. “In Delhi, children from urban slums are at a particular risk, especially newborns and infants [0­36 months] whose health entirely depends on the availability of the mother to breastfeed, the ability of the caretaker and household to provide nutritious meals, the quality of the public healthcare system and overall community support, said Pooja Mahajan, Nutritionist, BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

for the statehood.

demand

for

Hits out at UP CM At his first rally for the day at Delhi Cantonment, the AAP national convener hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for saying that the Army was “Modi’s fauj”, terming the BJP lead­ er’s statement an “insult” to the armed forces.

Congress slams Kejriwal over remark on Dikshit ‘Comments show his hollow mindset’ Staff Reporter New Delhi

The Delhi Congress on Mon­ day hit out at AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal for his remark that its presi­ dent and three­time Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit “is not an important leader”. Calling the comment “ve­ ry unfortunate”, DPCC working president Rajesh Lilothia said the statement showed Mr. Kejriwal’s “de­ mented and hollow mindset”. “Ms. Dikshit’s popularity and her strong personality are well known, not only in Delhi but also across the country. Mr. Kejriwal will never be able to reach her popularity and stature in his lifetime,” Mr. Lilothia said. He added that Mr. Kejri­ wal’s unwarranted com­ ments against Ms. Dikshit was intended to gain cheap political mileage. “Mr. Kejriwal is like a cha­ meleon who changes his co­ lours to suit the occasion, and thrives by telling lies and spreading falsehood to mislead the people for their votes, without minding his

words and showing least concern for the image of a highly respected leader.” Mr. Lilothia said. ‘Tried to cut votes’ Citing the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pra­ desh, Rajasthan, Chhattis­ garh and Goa, Delhi Con­ gress spokesperson Jitender Kumar Kochar said that the AAP candidates had tried to cut the votes of the Congress candidates but ended up losing their security depo­ sits. DPCC spokesperson Ra­ makant Goswami said that on the one hand, AAP lead­ ers were desperately beg­ ging for an alliance with the Congress for fighting the Lok Sabha election in Delhi, and on the other hand, they were challenging the poli­ cies and ideologies of India’s biggest political party. The second day of the Delhi Congress’ Haath Ke Saath Cycle Yatra was flagged off by Ms. Dikshit from the Madipur metro sta­ tion. She appealed to cadres to ensure party’s win in the LS polls.

Delhi police arrest JeM militant in Srinagar He was earlier arrested in 2007 and convicted in 2013 for anti­national activities STAFF REPORTER

terror strike in Delhi. The at­ tack was foiled with their ar­ rest,” said DCP Yadav.

NEW DELHI

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minis­ ter N. Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minis­ ter Mamata Banerjee had promised him support of the people of their respective States for the demand of full statehood while they all ad­ dressed a rally in Andhra on Sunday. He added that he would “go to all political leaders and parties” to seek support

A Jaish­e­Mohammad ( JeM) militant was arrested from the territorial jurisdiction of Kothi Bagh police station in Srinagar, the Delhi police said on Monday. Fayaz Ah­ mad Lone, who was evading arrest since 2014, had a bounty of ₹2 lakh on his head. DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said the police had arrested Lone following a brief encounter on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in the Capital on February 4, 2007. Three of his accomplices were also nabbed then. They were identified as Bashir Ahmed Ponnu and Abdul Majeed Baba from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, and Shahid Gafoor, a JeM militant from Pakistan’s Sialkot. “Three kg of explosive

Fayaz Ahmad Lone

materials, four non­electric detonators, one timer, six hand grenades, one­star make pistol with one spare magazine and two cartridg­ es, fake $10,000, and ₹50,000 were recovered from them. They had procured the ex­ plosives from their contacts in Kashmir to carry out a big

His accomplices The police said a Delhi court in August 2013 had convicted Gafoor while acquitting the others because of lack of evi­ dence. The city police filed an ap­ peal in the Delhi HC against the acquittal. The court con­ victed the trio in the case and later issued non­bailable warrants against them, as they never appeared before the court. “The three were convict­ ed for their involvement in anti­national and terrorist activities. Since their possi­ bilities of still continuing it from their hideouts in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir were never ruled out, a team was sent to the Valley to nab

them,” the DCP said. The team caught Lone from Srinagar on March 25 and brought him to Delhi on transit remand. He was pro­ duced before the Delhi HC that sent him to Tihar jail. “Efforts are on to nab Ponnu and Baba as well,” added Mr. Yadav. Business failed The police said Lone joined the JeM in 2005, after his electronic and shawl busi­ ness failed and he came in contact with Altaf Ahmed Kirmani, a JeM member from Baramulla. “Kirmani persuaded Lone to join the outfit to earn quick buck. He had been in regular touch with top JeM commanders in India and Pakistan ever since he was released from jail in 2013,” said Mr. Yadav. B ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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IN BRIEF

‘Delhi BJP misleading people, will go to EC’ NEW DELHI

The Aam Aadmi Party will approach the Election Commission of India to complain against Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari for “misleading” Delhiites about the possibility of granting full statehood to Delhi, AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said on Monday. STAFF REPORTER

‘6 dengue cases reported in Delhi this year so far’ NEW DELHI

At least six dengue cases have been reported in Delhi this year so far, four of which were in March, stated a municipal report released on Monday. The vector-borne disease is usually reported between July and November. Last year, 2,798 dengue cases and four deaths were recorded by the south civic body, which tabulates data on vector-borne diseases in the city. STAFF REPORTER

HC refuses to hear plea on generic drugs Staff Reporter New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to enter­ tain a petition seeking di­ rections to the Centre and the Medical Council of In­ dia (MCI) to ensure that doctors prescribe generic medicines. The plea by advocate Amit Sahni said that the MCI had on January 21, 2013, issued a circular ad­ dressed to the deans of all medical colleges, director of all hospitals, president of all State medical coun­ cils, whereby the doctors practising medicines were called upon to prescribe drugs with generic name as far as possible. ‘Same benefits, low price’ But, the authorities have failed to ensure that doc­ tors write only generic medicines in their pre­ scription despite clear stat­ utory directions, Mr. Sahni had said in his plea. He said that generic medicine works and provides the same clinical benefit as brand­name versions, and added that generic medi­ cine cost between 5% to 60% less than their brand­ ed counterparts. Mr. Sahni had argued that citizens belonging to the lower­middle class and economically backward may not be in a position to approach the court due to lack of awareness, and would benefit from a court direction to doctors to pre­ scribe generic medicines.

Ten structures demolished at Kant Enclave amid protests Residents call it ‘Black Day’, raise slogans against authorities; drive to continue today FARIDABAD

New Delhi

“It is a Black Day”, this is how Vishisht Seva Medal awardee Brigadier (retd.) M.B. Anand described the demolition of houses at Kant Enclave in Sector 40 here on Monday. The 400­acre town­ ship houses bungalows of re­ tired Army officers, former bureaucrats, senior advo­ cates and entrepreneurs. Mr. Anand, along with sev­ eral other residents, had gathered at the entrance of the township wearing black bands and carrying black flags and banners to protest against the demolition drive.

The ongoing installation of CCTV cameras as part of a Delhi government project has become the latest flash­ point in the run­up to the Lok Sabha election, with Aam Aadmi Party MLAs be­ ing accused of using the pro­ ject to seek votes. On Monday, the Delhi As­ sembly Secretariat wrote to all MLAs about a “complaint against political functionar­ ies/MLAs etc. for violation of Model Code of Conduct” by trying to lure voters “in the garb of field inspections” as part of installation of CCTV cameras in residential colo­ nies and markets.

Total 14 structures Of the total 14 structures to be pulled down, ten were razed, including two houses belonging to former Chief Justice of India A.M. Ahma­ di, and two were partially demolished during the day­ long drive by four squads comprising the Department of Town and Country Plan­ ning, Municipal Corporation of Faridabad and Sub­Divi­ sional Magistrate (Badkhal). The two partially demol­ ished structure include a film studio belonging to the developer. The drive was carried out in adherence to the Supreme Court order in September last year saying that the

bought the land < > We legally, got it registered, had the building plans approved by the authorities concerned before constructing the houses. We are paying all taxes, water and power tariff. This sector is part of the Master Plan­2031. What wrong have we done? Bharat Seth IIT-Mumbai Professor (retd.)

Demolition of structures under way at Kant Enclave, Faridabad; (right) residents protest against the drive. *

MANOJ KUMAR

houses were built illegally in the protected forests of the Aravalis and the developers had caused irreversible eco­ logical damage to the an­ cient hills. The residents, most of them senior citizens, said they were left “stunned” by what had happened and questioned as to why they were being singled out for the demolition. “As per the Supreme Court order, all construc­ tion, which includes a priv­ ate university, a police sta­ tion, a fire station and some HUDA sectors in Faridabad, have been constructed in violation of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. Then why single out Kant Enclave for the demolition? We are not saying that those structures be also demol­ ished, but everyone should be treated at par,” said Rahul Juneja, a garments expor­ ters, who had bought a plot in the township in 1994. He said that he had come to express solidarity with those whose houses were be­

ing demolished. IIT­Mumbai Professor (retd.) Bharat Seth sought to know what was the fault of the residents. “We bought the land legal­ ly, got it registered, had the building plans approved by the authorities concerned before constructing the houses. We are paying all taxes, water and power ta­ riff. This sector is part of the Master Plan­2031. What wrong have we done,” asked Mr. Seth. The residents ar­ gued that it would be the first such instance in the country when the houses in a legally approved colony were demolished. #398299

‘No proper hearing’ Some of them rued that they did not get proper hearing in the court and were not satis­ fied with the order.

The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed a Central In­ formation Commission or­ der directing the Centre to disclose the pre­trial advice given by the Army’s Judge Advocate General ( JAG) branch in connection with a 2012 clash between 100­ odd soldiers of Ladakh­ based 226 Field Regiment and their superiors. A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup J. Bhambhani also sought a reply of the RTI ap­

Petitioner had contended that the film could have an impact on voters Staff Reporter New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to enter­ tain a plea seeking to defer the release of the film PM Narendra Modi until the re­ sults of the 2019 Lok Sabha election are declared. A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup J. Bhambhani refused to entertain the petition filed by Advocate Sujeet Ku­ mar Singh, which had also sought action against the

makers of the film for violat­ ing the Model Code of Con­ duct (MCC). The film is set to hit the theatres on April 5. During the brief proceed­ ing, the Election Commis­ sion was represented by ad­ vocate Siddhant Kumar. In violation of model code The petition contended that the model code had come into force when the election schedule was announced by the poll panel on March 10.

The petition claimed that on January 7, 2019, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra launched the official poster of the film “in a grand occa­ sion in Mumbai”. “The film, if released for public during the period the Model Code of Conduct is in operation… could have a great impact on voters... it can be seen as campaign material to be used before voting when the official pu­ blicity is banned,” the peti­ tion stated.

plicant, who is one of the soldiers involved in the clash. The Bench has post­ ed the case for further hear­ ing on August 13. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has challenged the January 2017 direction of the CIC to provide the infor­ mation sought by the RTI applicant, Gunner Bikram­ jit Singh. The CIC order was initially challenged by the MoD before a single judge who in May 2018 had dis­ missed the plea on the grounds that it was filed af­ ter a considerable delay.

The Bench agreed to hear the appeal against the single judge’s decision after it was told that the documents had to be sent from Kargil leading to a delay in chal­ lenging the CIC order. The petition has claimed that the CIC completely mis­ interpreted the Right to In­ formation (RTI) law by di­ recting the MoD to provide certified copies of the JAG’s pre­trial advice as the same was confidential and ex­ empted from the purview of the Act. According to the MoD

plea, the incident had taken place on May 11­12, 2012, at Leh in Jammu and Kashmir after the soldiers heard a ru­ mour that one of them had died after being badly bea­ ten up by three officers for allegedly molesting an offic­ er’s wife. Mr. Singh, who was dis­ missed from service in 2015 after a Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) for his participation in the clash, had in December 2015 sought information regard­ ing the advice given by the JAG in the matter.

Plea in NGT seeks permission to operate brick kilns Staff Reporter New Delhi

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed the Central Pollution Con­ trol Board (CPCB) to “expe­ ditiously decide” on a plea moved by a brick kiln asso­ ciation seeking permission to operate their kilns on the grounds that they were “en­ vironment friendly”. A Bench headed by NGT CM YK

As many as 31 residents have given an undertaking in the court to vacate their houses by July 31 and these will be taken up for demoli­ tion after the deadline. Bibhuti Bhushan, 76, an IIT­Kharagpur graduate, said that he had invested his life’s savings in building his house and there could not be anything like “valuation” for him for his home. Mr. Bhushan is among those who have given the af­ fidavits, but he said that even July 31 was not far off. He fears the same fate as his fellow residents met on Monday. The residents could be seen hugging and consol­ ing each other as the demoli­ tion squads went ahead with the drive pulling down the structures. The drive will continue on Tuesday as well.

HC refuses to interfere with release of Modi biopic

In Army clash case of 2012; challenge plea was moved by the Ministry of Defence New Delhi

Letter to EC says field inspections by MLAs against model code Damini Nath Jatin Anand

Ashok Kumar

HC stays CIC order to disclose JAG advice Staff Reporter

AAP MLAs accused of ‘using’ CCTV project to woo voters

judicial member Justice Raghuvendra S. Rathore di­ rected the CPCB to take up the plea moved by the Gha­ ziabad­based brick manufacturer. “We direct the CPCB to look into, and expeditiously decide, the issue in respect of the technology suggested by the applicant herein and in case it is found technically appropriate, approval of the

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, be taken at the earliest,” the Bench stated. ‘Environment friendly’ The NGT’s orders came on plea moved by Zila Ghazia­ bad Nirmata Samiti, which sought directions to permit their brick kilns to operate as they were equipped with environment friendly tech­

nology. The plea contended that the Chimney Bull’s Trench Kiln technology uses mustard husk as fuel and that it does not have adverse effects on public health. In 2017, the NGT had is­ sued directions that all brick kilns operating without per­ mission and requisite con­ sent from State pollution control boards be closed with immediate effect.

Opposition parties, in­ cluding the Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI, have approached the poll panel seeking postponement of the release of the film until the last phase of voting on May 19 is over. The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer has sought response from the film producers on the issue. The Bombay High Court on Monday also refused to interfere with the release of the film.

Letter from Delhi CEO The Assembly told the MLAs that it had received a letter from the Chief Electoral Of­ ficer on March 26 regarding a complaint sent to the CEO on March 20. Forwarding the CEO’s let­ ter, which says the MLAs’ conduct appears to be in vio­ lation of the MCC, the As­ sembly also shared the Elec­ tion Commission of India’s “Dos and Dont’s”. According to the document, the com­ missioning of government works should be done by “ci­ vil authority” and not politi­ cal representatives while the MCC is in force. The complainant, Satya Ranjan Swain, argued that

the MLAs had been accom­ panying government offi­ cials and RWA representa­ tives on field inspections, in violation of the MCC. Stating that the conduct “appears” to be in violation of the rules, the CEO’s office asked those concerned to comply with the instructions “in letter and spirit”. Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said he was out of town and had not seen the letter, which has been sent by the Assembly Secretariat to all MLAs and his office as well. ‘BJP tactic’ “This appears to be an at­ tempt by the BJP to delay the project. This is not a new project. The MLAs are part of the process. They are not holding inaugurations or putting up posters, which is not allowed,” said Mr. Goel. AAP spokesperson and Greater Kailash MLA Sau­ rabh Bharadwaj said he had not received the letter as of Monday evening. “The BJP tried to stop the project, first through the

Lieutenant­Governor, then through the police, then they got together with the Congress and tried to raise irregularities. When all that failed, they are now trying to derail the installation of the cameras. This is an ongoing project. For the field inspec­ tions, the area MLA and RWA members are required to sign off,” he said, referring to the modalities laid down by the government. Reacting to the AAP’s alle­ gations, Leader of Opposi­ tion in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said state­ ments such as these were symptoms of the party’s “frustration” fearing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. “The AAP is scared be­ cause it has realised there is no way to save itself from losing the elections; if the Election Commission of In­ dia has reiterated its stand on such activities, the party should accept them and change course in accor­ dance with the law instead of levelling wild allegations,” Mr. Gupta said.

‘As of now, singer Sapna Chaudhary is not joining BJP’ Sources say party has left door open, clarity to emerge soon Jatin Anand New Delhi

Ending days of speculation over her possible candida­ ture for the Lok Sabha poll from the Capital on a BJP ticket, party sources on Monday said that Haryanvi singer Sapna Chaudhary will not be joining the party. However, Ms. Chaudhary will be among the star cam­ paigners for the BJP in con­ stituencies with sizeable Jat and Purvanchali popula­ tions such as the South, North­East and West Delhi Parliamentary constituen­ cies. Sources said the party has left its door ajar for the former reality television star to come into the fold. Sources said that “more clarity” on whether or not she will formally join the BJP would emerge “in a few days”. The development comes after Ms. Chaudhary met Delhi BJP chief Manoj

Tiwari on Sunday evening. A similar meeting between Ms. Chaudhary and Mr. Ti­ wari last week had triggered speculation about her join­ ing the BJP to contest in the upcoming general election. Tiwari to call on Vishwas Mr. Tiwari is expected to call on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rebel leader Kumar Vishwas on Monday evening, said sources. “Mr. Tiwari and Ms. Chaudhary met on Sunday evening to discuss the par­ ty’s campaign for the LS election in the Capital. She will not be joining the party at the moment, but she is more than likely to be a star campaigner for the party in Parliamentary segments where she enjoys immense popularity,” the source said. “Ms. Chaudhary is not joining the party as of now... there will be clarity on this

Is Tikri Khurd lake in Narela a wetland, NGT asks authorities Gives Wetlands Authority of Delhi one month to decide

issue in a day or two,” said another party source. Reports of her joining the Congress and being fielded from Mathura in Uttar Pra­ desh had begun doing the rounds after a picture of Ms. Chaudhary with Congress’ Eastern UP in­charge Pri­ yanka Gandhi Vadra had surfaced before her meeting with Mr. Tiwari. Manifesto for Delhi Party insiders also said that Mr. Tiwari, who is among the 40 star campaigners chosen to canvass for the BJP, will be part of as many as 34 public events, sche­ duled between April 3 and April 9, across the country. “The Delhi unit of the BJP will also have its own manif­ esto for the Lok Sabha elec­ tion focussing on issues re­ lated to the Capital and its political scenario,” said a party leader.

Plea in NGT claims plastic units behind air pollution Staff Reporter

Staff Reporter New Delhi

New Delhi

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Wet­ lands Authority of Delhi to convene a meeting and take a decision on whether the Tikri Khurd lake in Narela is a wetland. The authority has been asked to decide on the issue within a month. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said: “If any steps are required to be ta­ ken for making the Wetland Authority fully functional, such steps may be taken by the Delhi Chief Secretary. Even if it is found that the area in question is not tech­ nically a wetland, the lake is required to be preserved as a water body.” Adding that the authority can co­opt the Delhi Deve­ lopment Authority as a member under relevant rules, the Bench stated: “Ef­ fective joint decision can be taken to resolve the dispute whether the area falls within the jurisdiction of the DDA

A plea accusing plastic­ma­ nufacturing factories in northwest Delhi’s Sultan­ pur Majra village of spread­ ing pollution, has prompt­ ed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to order the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to look into the matter and take appropriate action.

The NGT also asked the CPCB to ascertain whether the National Wetlands Authority is functioning at the central and State level. FILE: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA *

or the Delhi government.” Wetlands authority The Central Pollution Con­ trol Board (CPCB) has also been directed to ascertain whether the National Wet­ lands Authority is function­ ing at the central level across States and Union Territories. “If not, their functioning is required to be operational within one month. Such authorities may identify wet­ lands and water bodies and take further steps for their protection. A status report

in the matter may be fur­ nished before the next step,” the Bench said. The green panel also came down heavily on the DDA after it informed the Bench that the lake does not exist in the records. “The stand of the DDA does not show commitment for conserving water body and merely focuses on tech­ nicalities and shifting res­ ponsibility, which is an atti­ tude not expected from a public body,” the green tri­ bunal noted.

Action report A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said: “Let the DPCC and the jurisdiction­ al SDM look into the mat­ ter, take appropriate action in accordance with law and furnish an action taken re­ port within a month.” The green panel added that the DPCC will be the nodal agency for coordina­ tion and compliance. The directions came when a plea alleged that “hun­ dreds of plastic factories at Sultanpur Majra village”, were creating pollution. B ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

CITY 3

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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IN BRIEF Vegetable vendors stabbed, robbed; 1 held NEW DELHI

A 23­year­old man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a vegetable vendor along with his accomplices after robbing him of ₹13,000 in Delhi’s Captain Gaur Marg, the police said on Monday. The accused, identified as Akif, a resident of Nehru Nagar, was arrested from near his house on March 29, they said. The incident took place on March 28 around 5.30 a.m. when the 40­year­ old vendor was going to purchase vegetables from Okhla Sabzi Mandi, the police further said. PTI

Woman dragged by snatcher, injured NEW DELHI

A 50­year­old woman sustained injuries after a biker, who tried to snatch her bag, dragged her, in Yojna Vihar in Shahdara on Monday afternoon, the police said. The woman was trying to resist the accused’s bid to snatch her bag. Meghna Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara), confirmed the incident amnd said that a case under charges of attempt to robbery has been registered. STAFF REPORTER

Bodies of missing youths found in canal, families allege murder Police rule out foul play, say autopsy reports suggest they died of drowning traceable. We approached the police suspecting he had been murdered, but they are trying to convince us that he accidentally fell into the ca­ nal and drowned.” Renu, Rohit’s mother, said that her son used to work with a caterer and on March 24 night, Sooraj came to their house and asked Rohit to accompany him for some work. “Both of them have been murdered and the police are hiding their incompetence by calling it suicide,” said Ms. Renu. Jasmeet Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), said that the prelimin­ ary autopsy reports of Sooraj and Rohit have stated that they died of drowning. “There were no injury marks on their bodies. No foul play is suspected,” said Mr. Singh. Mr. Singh also said that an inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been initiated.

STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI

Mystery shrouds the disap­ pearance of two youths after their bodies were recovered from a canal in east Delhi’s New Ashok Nagar. The fami­ lies of the deceased have al­ leged that their children were murdered, but the pol­ ice said they were investigat­ ing the case from multiple angles. The police said that on March 24, Sooraj (23) and Rohit (24), who lived in Ka­ lyanpuri, were reported mis­ sing, adding that they had re­ ceived two separate missing complaints. “We tried to lo­ cate them by tracking their mobile phones. We found that Rohit had left his phone at home. Sooraj was traced at some distance, but his phone was switched off. We questioned many of their friends but everyone was clueless,” said a police officer. On March 27, the police control room received a call

Sooraj and (right) Rohit.

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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

around 6.30 p.m. regarding a body floating in a canal. A police team rushed to the lo­ cation and the body was ta­ ken out. The police team checked the canal thorough­ ly and found another body around 20 minutes later a few meters away from where the first body was recovered. The body was sent to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital mortuary and the families, who had reported them mis­ sing, were asked to visit the mortuary for identification. Sooraj’s family identified

Former driver of cab aggregator robs another, three arrested

him with the help of three different tattoos on his body, while Rohit was identified with the help of a chain he was wearing on his neck. The bodies were handed ov­ er to the respective families after post­mortem examina­ tion. ‘Strangulated’ Sooraj’s elder brother De­ vendra Singh said, “My brother’s eyes and tongue were bulging out. It seems that he was strangulated. Even his mobile phone is un­

for his inappropriate activi­ ties and frequent complaints from passengers. He wanted to take a revenge and thus planned to rob the compa­ ny’s taxi, the police claimed. The police said Jasveer had planned to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday was fac­ ing a shortage of money. He then hatched the plan of robbery and roped in his friends. “They used an old SIM card to book the ride. They boarded the cab and robbed the driver of ₹3,000, his mobile phone, wallet and a bluetooth speaker. They also tried to flee with the car but failed as the key broke,” Mr Alphonse said. Gurpreet was earlier ar­ rested in a murder case., the police said.

Three persons, including a former driver, who worked with a cab aggregator, have been arrested for allegedly robbing another driver working with the same com­ pany, the police said on Monday. DCP (Dwarka) Anto Al­ phonse said that the accused have been identified as Gur­ preet Singh (19), Aakash (22), and Jasveer Singh (24). They said that the police control room was informed in the early hours of Satur­ day that a cab driver had been robbed. “The driver said that he was robbed of his valuables on gunpoint by four unidentified youths while he was taking them on

a booked ride,” the officer said, adding that a case has been registered. During investigation, with the help of human and tech­ nical intelligence, the police found out on Wednesday that three persons involved in the incident were in Bin­ dapur, after which a trap was laid and three suspects who were coming on a mo­ torcycle were detained. The police also said that the two­ wheeler was found to be sto­ len and the accused were al­ so in possession of illegal arms. The three were then arrested, the police said. During interrogation, it was found that Jasveer had briefly worked with the same cab aggregator as the driver but was thrown out

₹70 lakh cash seized from six persons

Pickpocket attacks guard on moving bus

STAFF REPORTER

Victim tried to catch him red­handed

Staff Reporter NEW DELHI

NEW DELHI

Murdered driver’s wife says they tried to stay out of the feud Hemani Bhandari NEW DELHI

The wife of the 40­year­old cluster bus driver, who was shot dead on Sunday night, said that they had shifted to a rented accommodation from their own house about three months ago as they were scared for their lives. Victim Hakimuddin’s wife Shahana said, “We had been living with other family mem­ bers in Seelampur but since we did not want to get in­ volved in the feud with my sister­in­law’s family and were scared due to the threats, we moved out.” Ms. Shahana said Haki­ muddin’s brother Shahzad had married their neighbour Uzma against the wish of Uz­ ma’s family. The two had eloped, she said. The two fa­ milies then developed enmi­ ty over the issue and had even clashed with each other about eight months ago. Dur­ ing the clash, she said, a neighbour had died after by Hakimuddin’s brothers Shah­ zad and Mahumuddin alleg­

Hakimuddin’s wife Shahana.

Accused include a juvenile who was apprehended at his father’s instance NEW DELHI

Two persons, including a ju­ venile have been held for their involvement in an inci­ dent of burglary reported in Wazirabad in north district, the police said on Monday. Two cases solved They said that two cases of burglary have been thus worked out and jewellery worth ₹4 lakh were reco­ vered from the possession of the accused. The police said that on March 3, an incident of bur­ glary was reported at a house in Hardev Nagar in

#398299

Wazirabad. On March 26, another burglary was report­ ed at a house in Wazirabad. During investigation, it was found that both the bur­ glaries were committed in a similar manner. There were no CCTV cameras near the places where the incidents took place. However, a dedi­ cated team was deputed to look for footage from CCTV cameras installed, if any, at all the possible routes that the burglars could have ta­ ken to flee. “We got a lead after a teen­ ager of the same stature was seen in the footage from CCTV cameras installed near

the location of the houses in both the cases. Photographs of the suspect were deve­ loped and beat staff started searching for the suspect,” said Nupur Prasad, DCP (North). “On the basis of a tip­off, a man was picked up and dur­ ing questioning, he identi­ fied the boy seen in the CCTV footage as his son. A raid was immediately conducted at a house as the instance of the man and the boy was appre­ hended from there,” said Ms. Prasad. During interrogation, he admitted to having been in­ volved in both the cases. He

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edly stabbed him. The two are currently lodged in jail. “What I feared for the most has happened. Now I am scared for my children’s and my own life. We are wit­ nesses in the incident. What if they harm us as well?” she wondered as she suspected involvement of her sister­in­ law’s family. The police, meanwhile, said they are investigating the case of Hakimuddin’s murder and that the motive will be ascertained once the accused are held.

2 burglars held, jewellery worth ₹4 lakh recovered STAFF REPORTER

Accused was fired by the company, wanted to take revenge

‘Scared for our lives, we moved to rented house three months ago’

further revealed that the je­ wellery stolen from Bangali Colony had been kept with one Pawan, a resident of Sant Nagar. “We went to Pawan’s house but were told that he had gone to Balaji in Rajas­ than and would be returning in the afternoon. As soon as he returned from Balaji he was apprehended and the stolen jewellery was reco­ vered from him,” said Ms. Prasad. The juvenile also dis­ closed that other articles sto­ len from a house in Hardev Nagar had been given to one Deepak. Efforts are being made to trace Deepak.

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Prickly heat

SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Talking about her hus­ band, Ms. Shahana said he had big plans for his eldest daughter Eram (14). “He wanted to provide her the best education. He wanted her to join the police force and our daughter wanted the same,” she said. Worried for her future, the 30­year­old wondered how she would take care of her children all by herself. “All my daughters go to school and I have six children to feed. How will I manage everything alone?” she said.

Florist shot dead following argument, two apprehended Staff Reporter NEW DELHI

A 40­year­old florist was shot dead in north­east Delhi’s Welcome on Sun­ day night, the police said on Monday. The police have apprehended the ac­ cused. The accused and his accomplice were iden­ tified as Nawazish and Sal­ man. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North­East) Atul Kumar Thakur said that the victim has been identi­ fied as Mehtab who was shot dead in Kabir Nagar. “A PCR call was received around 11 p.m. regarding a firing incident. Enquiry re­ vealed that one Mehtab who is a florist was de­ clared brought dead at Gu­ ru Teg Bahadur Hospital,” Mr. Thakur said. Monetary issue During investigation, the police were informed that Mehtab was allegedly stabbed by one Nawazish with whom he had a quar­ rel in the morning. “There was an argu­ ment between the two in the morning over a mone­ tary issue. The argument turned violent which was resolved by the locals. Ho­ wever, the accused re­ turned with his accomplic­ es and fired at Mehtab,” Mr. Thakur said.

Just days before the Lok Sabha election, cash amounting to ₹70 lakh was seized from six persons during vehicle checking ex­ ercise in north­west Delhi’s Keshavpuram on Monday evening, said the police. The police were check­ ing vehicles at a check post near Prembari Pul Under­ pass around 5 p.m. The six persons were held carrying cash in their respective vehicles, including cars and two­wheelers, Vijayan­ ta Arya, Deputy Commis­ sioner of Police (North­ west), said. Revenue agency, the I­T Department and ED has been informed about the seizures.

Staff Reporter

DELHI TODAY

DCW rescues 12 trafficked victims

Cancel FIR against us, appeals Bhondsi family

The women from Nepal were being taken to Dubai from Delhi

Threatens to migrate to a safer place if the demand is not met, requests security

Talk: Roundtable discussion on "The second session of the National People's Congress". Speakers: Prof. Biswajit Dhar, Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, JNU, Prof. Hemant Adlakha, Centre for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU and Dr. P.K. Anand, Research associate, ICS. Discussants: Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Honorary Fellow, ICS and Prof. Alka Acharya, Centre for Asian Studies, JNU. The event will be chaired by Amb. Ashok K. Kantha, Institute of Chinese Studies at Conference Room - II, India International Centre (IIC), 2:30 p.m. Exhibition: "No Number No Name", a solo painting exhibition by Kavita Issar Batra at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Exhibition: "Inspiring Nature Shades of emotions", a solo exhibition by Rajeev Semwal at Convention Centre Foyer, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Exhibition: “Scripted in Time II”, a solo show of sculptures, wall-mounted paintings and photographs by master artist Rameshwar Broota at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-40, Defence Colony, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. (Mail your listings for this column at [email protected])

CM YK

New Delhi

A security guard’s arm was slashed when a pickpocket attacked him in a moving bus near Gol Dak Khana on Monday, the police said. They said that Rajinder Prasad (55), who works as a private security guard, sus­ tained injury on his arm. Madhur Verma, DCP (New Delhi), said that the incident happened around 4 p.m. when Mr. Prasad spotted a man trying to steal from a man’s pocket in the moving bus. He tried to catch him red­handed. “The pickpock­ et took out a knife and slashed on his arm with it. He then jumped off the mov­

ing bus and fled,” Mr. Verma said. The driver stopped the bus after the passengers raised an alarm. Some of them also tried to chase the accused but in vain. One of them then informed the pol­ ice about the incident. The police reached the spot and the injured was taken to Lok Nayak Hospital and was dis­ charged after treatment. Manhunt on “We are examining CCTV footage to identify the ac­ cused. He will be arrested soon,” the DCP said. A case under charges of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon has been filed.

A woman works in a field of roses on the Yamuna floodplain near Seelampur in Delhi.

ANUJ ARORA CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Anandi (name changed), who made the initial com­ plaint to the NGO, said that she had been trafficked to Iraq by the same agent. She escaped from Iraq and on reaching India came to know about the other girls who were kept captive.

Staff Reporter NEW DELHI

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has rescued 12 Nepali women who were allegedly being trafficked to Dubai from different loca­ tions across north­west Del­ hi, officials said on Monday. Following a complaint made to NGO Kl Nepal, two DCW teams rescued the girls from two places in Na­ jafgarh, the women’s com­ mission said.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal.

Promise of jobs “The women said that an agent, Uday, had lured them to Delhi on the pretext of getting them decent jobs in Dubai and other Gulf coun­

tries. Though the agenct could not be traced, the girls said that they had paid up to ₹2 lakh to him for get­ ting the jobs,” a DCW official said.

Maliwal on trafficking DCW chairperson Swati Ma­ liwal said, “Large­scale hu­ man trafficking continues unabated and hundreds of Nepali women are being trafficked via Delhi regular­ ly... The need of the hour is for the Delhi and the Nepal police forces to bust these international trafficking gangs.”

Special Correspondent GURUGRAM

The Muslim family in Bhond­ si who was attacked on March 21 by a group of men, on Monday made an appeal to the district administration to cancel the first informa­ tion report registered against them and threatened to migrate to a safer place if their demand was not met. ‘False case’ In a memorandum to Sohna Sub­Divisional Magistrate, Mohammad Sajid, the owner of the house, said that his fa­ mily members feared for their life and that a false case was registered against them

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to create pressure to reach a compromise. SHO, IO biased He also requested security for his family and demanded that the case registered against them be withdrawn or he would be forced to move to a safer place. He al­ so accused the Station House Officer, Bhondsi and the In­ vestigation Officer in the case of being biased and de­ manded that the latter be changed. The family also had a press conference on the is­ sue and expressed fear for their life. Muslim Ekta Manch chairman Hazi Shah­ zad Khan said the allegations

made against the family in the FIR were baseless. “Had there been any complaint against the family, it should have come up on the same day. How come the com­ plaint appeared after six days? The administration had assured the family that they would be protected and no action would be taken against them, but the oppo­ site has happened,” said Mr. Khan. He also denied the al­ legations that the family had started the fight. SDM, Sohna, Chinar Cha­ hal, said the matter was un­ der investigation and the ci­ vil administration could not interfere in it, but the police were directed to be impartial

Case registered The police have registered a case under Section 302 (punishment for murder) and teams were formed to nab the accused. A weapon was also reco­ vered from the accused’s possession. They con­ fessed that the motive be­ hind the crime was re­ venge over the quarrel.

in their probe and the family was told to produce the evi­ dence with them. “The in­ vestigation would be super­ vised by the administration to make sure that it is impar­ tial,” said Ms. Chahal. She said that the fear expressed by the family was understan­ dable and that already around 10 police personnel were deployed for their se­ curity. She added that the se­ curity would be increased, if needed. Ms. Chahal also said that the administration would write to Haryana Edu­ cation Board to conduct spe­ cial examination for the boy in the family who had mis­ sed his Class X exam due to the injury. B ND-NDE

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4 CITY

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Murder of judge’s wife, son: five witnesses examined in court

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Field day

27 of 81 prosecution witnesses have deposed so far; victims were shot by guard prosecution had < > the enough evidence to

Special Correspondent GURUGRAM

Five witnesses were exa­ mined in connection with the murder of the wife and son of an Additional Dis­ trict and Sessions Judge in October last year, at a local court here on Monday. Of the total 81 prosecu­ tion witnesses, 27 have de­ posed so far. Anil Antil, a material wit­ ness in the case, told the court of Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Sondhi that he hap­ pened to pass through the road in front of Arcadia Market in South City­II on the fateful day when he not­ iced a huge crowd. He cut through the crowd to find a teenager and a woman lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Mr. Antil, who hails from Murthal in Sonipat, further said that he asked people in the crowd to make some ar­ rangement to shift the in­ jured persons to the hospi­ tal, but no one came forward.

prove its case to the hilt and the rest of the witnesses would also be examined soon to wrap up the case speedily Anurag Hooda Public prosecutor

At this, he shifted the in­ jured persons, later identi­ fied as judge Krishan Kant’s wife Ritu and son Dhruv, to Park Hospital in an autor­ ickshaw all by himself. Mr. Antil told the court that the woman, who was conscious at that moment, had requested him to take her to hospital quickly. Mr. Antil had come to the city a month ago in search of job. Park Hospital doctors Ba­ sant Kumar and V.K. Bhalla were also examined. While Mr. Kumar had prepared the discharge summary of the injured before they were shifted to Medanta Hosptial, Mr. Bhalla, the su­

perintendent, had handed over the bloodstained clothes of the victims to the police in a sealed parcel. Bloodstains on clothes Medical Officer at Guru­ gram Civil Hospital, Nitu, also deposed before the court, saying that clothes of the accused, Mahipal, had bloodstains on them and all his vitals were stable at the time of arrest. She had conducted the medico­legal examination of the accused after the ar­ rest. Dr. Nitu told the court that the accused behaved normally and had no psych­ ological issues.

Medanta Hospital doctor Atma Ram, who had de­ clared Dhruv brain­dead on October 22, was also examined. Public prosecutor Anu­ rag Hooda said that the pro­ secution had enough evi­ dence to prove its case to the hilt and the rest of the witnesses would also be ex­ amined soon to wrap up the case speedily. Mr. Kant’s wife Ritu (37) and son Dhruv, were get­ ting into their car after shopping on the day of the incident, when constable Mahipal shot them point­ blank. He was arrested two hours after he attacked them on Gurugram­Farida­ bad Road. Ritu, who was shot in the abdomen and chest, had died a few hours after the attack. The boy was shot twice in the head and once near the shoul­ der. He succumbed to inju­ ries ten days later. The next hearing in the case has been fixed for April 24.

Children play cricket near the Yamuna on a hot afternoon in Delhi on Monday.

SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Robert Vadra gets bail in Plea in HC accuses firm money laundering case of illegal lending practice Court tells him to join investigation

Objects to Centre approving only three of 6 corridors, change in funding pattern new delhi

The Delhi government has raised objection with the Centre over the latter’s ap­ proval of only three of the six metro phase IV corridors and change in the ambitious project’s funding pattern, an official said on Monday. “The government has sought clarification over the number of corridors ap­ proved by the Centre. The Delhi government had ap­ proved all the six corridors of phase IV, while the Centre gave clearance to only three of them,” a senior govern­ ment official said.

The Centre has approved three corridors of phase IV at an estimated cost of ₹24,948 crore.

“Even in the three corri­ dors approved by the Centre, the funding pattern has been changed. So, clari­ fication was sought on how

and why the number of ap­ proved corridors were re­ duced and funding pattern was changed,” he said. The Aam Aadmi Party go­ vernment has also sought clarity over the compensa­ tion to be paid for land ac­ quisition, the official said. The Centre had approved three corridors of phase IV at an estimated cost of ₹24,948 crore. The share of the Centre and the Delhi go­ vernment in it was pegged at ₹4,154 crore each, while the rest of the funding is to be done through support from lending agencies. The Delhi government paid ₹200 crore

as balance amount of its share this year for the pro­ ject and has sought clarifica­ tion on the above points, the official said. The AAP government had approved six corridors of the project last December. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry had objected to two conditions imposed by the Delhi go­ vernment while clearing the project at its end. It had asked for sharing of operational losses with Centre at 50:50 basis, while refusing to have any com­ mitment regarding loan to be taken for the project.

Notice issued to PNB Housing Finance Staff Reporter

AAP govt seeks clarity on Metro phase IV funding Press Trust of India

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#398299

Nirnimesh Kumar

New Delhi

NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to the National Housing Bank (NHB) on a plea alleging that PNB Housing Finance Limited was introducing schemes allowing upfront disbursal of sanctioned in­ dividual housing loans to the builders without link­ ing the disbursals to va­ rious stages of construction of the housing project. A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Jus­ tice Anup J. Bhambhani is­ sued notices to the NHB, a subsidiary of RBI, and PNB Housing Finance Limited and sought their stand on the plea by August 9. The petition by Abhijit Mishra has claimed that PNB Housing Finance was defaulting on NHB’s master circular on disbursement of housing loans to indivi­ duals by not linking it with

A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to Robert Va­ dra, son­in­law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in a money launder­ ing case. “In the event of arrest, the applicant shall be re­ leased on bail on his fur­ nishing a personal bond of ₹5 lakh with one surety of a like amount to the satisfac­ tion of IO (investigating of­ ficer),” said Special Judge Arvind Kumar. The Judge al­ so directed Mr. Vadra to join the investigation and not to leave India without the per­ mission of the court during the bail period. The Judge noted that Mr. Vadra joined the probe on nine occasions and an­ swered all the queries put to him during his 58 hours of interrogation. Also, there was no allegation that he

Robert Vadra

had at any point of time tampered with evidence or influenced any witnesses, the Judge said, adding the case of the Enforcement Di­ rectorate was based on doc­ umentary evidence. Opposing his bail applica­ tion, the Directorate submit­ ted that there was appre­ hension that he might tamper with evidence and hamper the investigation. Mr. Vadra might in­ fluence witnesses if he was given a blanket protection of bail, counsel for the probe agency submitted.

POOCH CAFE

PEANUTS

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

CALVIN AND HOBBES

the stages of construction. “The PNB Housing Fi­ nance signed tripartite agreement between the bank, the builder and the buyer of the housing unit,” the petition stated. ‘Exposed to risks’ “Such malicious and illegal predatory lending practice by the PNB Housing Fi­ nance Limited has not only exposed the financial insti­ tutions as well as their home loan borrowers to additional risks,” it contended. “There are several dis­ putes on subject such as in­ terest/EMI on the housing loan availed of by the indi­ vidual borrower that not being serviced by the buil­ ders during the construc­ tion period/ specified pe­ riod,” the petition stated, adding: “In such instances, the borrower becomes the victim of the charade”.

TIGER THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD-13033 4 Billboard (8) 5 Candidate (7) 6 Et cetera (3,2,5) 9 Razed to the ground (10) 12 Be resentful of (8) 14 Cortège (7) 16 Hurting (2,4) 19 Sharp­tipped missile (5) 20 River running through Bath (4)

WUMO

Solution will appear in Delhi Metro dated April 3, 2019.

6

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

CM YK

■ Across 1 Earlier (10) 7 Skinflint (7) 8 Bearing weapons (5) 10 Band worn round the waist (4) 11 Tincture of opium (8) 13 Counterfeiter (6) 15 Lacking material form (6)

Solution No. 13032

17 Shy (8) 18 Great deal (4) 21 Sharpened with a stone (5) 22 In an opposing direction (7) 23 At this time (4,3,3) ■ Down 1 Fake (5) 2 Skin alive (4) 3 Member of the military police (6)

B ND-NDE

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THE HINDU

SHOWCASE 5

DELHI

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Stories from the chawl

PREVIEW

Heal yourself Ahead of World Health Day, a workshop on preventing and even reversing disease

Actor Madhuri Dixit-Nene and her husband, on turning producers and why they chose to release 15 August online Anahita Panicker

Newly­turned producers Madhu­ ri Dixit­Nene and her husband Dr Shriram Nene are holding a series of interviews in Mumbai, answering questions about their first production, the re­ cent Netflix release, 15 August. Directed by Swapna­ neel Jayakar, the two­ hour­long, heart­ warming Marathi film is about the dwellers of Gandhi chawl. Be­ ing lauded for its real, believable characters, the film follows the events that unfold dur­ ing Independence Day celebrations.

progression. “In that avatar you can cure one patient at a time,” he explains. “This is no different. If you make someone laugh, it’s often the best medicine.” Madhuri took control of sifting through scripts and, after about four years of seeking the right one, she found one that clicked. The star says, “[It was] the whole chawl set­up. I had rela­ tives who lived in chawls, and I [have] stayed with them. So I felt like I know all these earthy, everyday characters. And it’s a layered comedy, so I thought it’d be ideal to make.” Women central Madhuri’s transition comes at a time when there seems to be a wave of female actors taking the reins behind the camera. Anush­ ka Sharma has her production company Clean Slate Films; Dee­ pika Padukone, who is both the lead and co­producer for the upcoming Chhapaak, and Pri­ yanka Chopra whose Purple Pebble Pictures is known to promote regional talent and cinema. While they certain­ ly aren’t the first (even ac­ tors like Juhi Chawla and Hema Malini forayed into the field over a decade ago) the rise of fe­ male ac­ tors in the production space seems to indicate a thirst to

Script hunt The couple’s company, RnM (that stands for Ram and Madhuri) Moving Pictures was launched in 2012 and has been focussing on health and lifestyle digital content. Shri­ ram says that the “logical sequel” was to produce films by tapping into his bu­ siness acumen and Madhuri’s expe­ rience of 35 years in front of the camera. And for Shriram, the transition from being a physician to part­ nering with his wife felt like a natural

Meet the Green Brigade, a team of students who have created QR codes for over 1,900 plants and trees on Nitte University campus

countries, Madhuri adds, “The content is amazing. You see Span­ ish and French movies, and diverse cultures. For the Indian diaspora abroad, they get to see a Marathi film and it stays on forever!” The conversation shifts towards films the couple wish they could have produced. “We have two teen­ age boys,” says Shriram, before sheepishly adding “So I see a lot of Producer’s hat: (left) Madhuri and Marvel films, unfortunately. But Shriram Nene; Stills from the film Black Panther (2018) stood out.” PRASHANT WAYDANDE Madhuri admits she’s more of a whodunit aficionado and, while create and diversify the narratives she enjoyed last year’s Andhadhun, the actor has barely had time in Indian films. “How come heroes become pro­ to catch recent releases. “I’m just ducers and nobody asks why? I looking at the future and asking, think when you have worked for 10 ‘What kind of films do we want to to 15 years, you’re equipped to go make?’” Shriram agrees, “I think behind the camera and produce our films should always make peo­ movies,” says the Padma Shri awar­ ple happy, and maybe teach a les­ dee known for 1990s hits such as son in the process. But more than Hum Apke Hain Koun, Khalnayak anything else, entertain.” and Beta. But is the climate more conducive for this shift? “It was ve­ The year ahead ry disorganised before, and that is The star’s plate is full with Karan Jo­ changing now.” har’s multi­starrer production Kalank, and Tahira Kashyap’s directo­ Web battles rial début Sharmaji Ki Beti. On The tricky part was having to pick how she has been balancing her between a release in theatres or go­ acting and new role as a producer, ing online. “This film could’ve she says, “It’s been adventurous. 15 done well in theatres,” says Shri­ August was going on, and then I ram, “because it’s a basic story: a was simultaneously working on Kalove triangle with different themes. lank. And then I had these two [But] there are 9,000 theatres in In­ teenagers in the house which is dia, of which 400 will play Marathi another production! And [there’s films for a few weeks.” also] a little puppy now! It couldn’t While he elaborates that the Net­ be busier, right?” concludes Mad­ flix release enables reach to its 139 huri, with her characteristically in­ million paid subscribers across 190 fectious laugh. *

Troopers for trees

#398299

Against a clinical white background is a plate, and on it a pill; steel fork and knife set on either side. “People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food,” reads the meme­style caption on it. This is one of Rachna Chhachhi, nutrition therapist and certified cancer coach’s tweets, which she hashtags with #foodismedicine and #refusetofallill. In line with this, her organisation RachnaRestores, is holding a “Health Over Hospital” workshop on April 5 in Mumbai, focusing on pre­ ventive care, and reversing or remission of lifestyle and chronic diseases like hypertension, type II diabetes, ALS, and certain types of cancers. The event brings together 11 women, former patients, from all over the world, as well as a scientist, an immunolo­ gist, and workshop participants. Chhachhi — whose clients include actor Manisha Koirala who successfully battled late­stage ovarian cancer — is also making sure to livestream the event via her Facebook, Ins­ tagram, and Twitter. This taps into her already­existing audience base of 2 lakh followers. “These 2 lakh followers aren’t just curious about weight loss. It’s a serious audience that has suffered something specific.” Chhachhi was one such person herself. Having suffered from debilitating rheumatoid arthritis 13 years ago, and finding no cure in medical science, she turned to food, yoga and meditation. “I did this through unimaginable levels of pain. But later, I quit my job, studied nutrition ther­ apy, and began my practice,” she recalls. One of the key risk factors for non­communicable dis­ eases (such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dia­ betes) is inflammation within the body. This can be caused by stressors such as pollution, junk food, the lack of exer­ cise, and other lifestyle habits. Combined with obesity and consistently high levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), this is “a welcoming environment for diseases” like cancer, she says. The workshop will outline nutrition, exercise, and other suggestions that help lead to an anti­inflammatory life­ style. Chhachhi is currently working on a book about on the prevention and management of cancer. She aims to high­ light the side effects of cancer medication and the import­ ance of nutrition in recovery. On 5th April, from 1:30pm - 5:30pm, Taj Land’s End, Bandra West. Register on racharestores.com or +91 9833710731. Follow live on @rachnarestores on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. VANGMAYI PARAKALA

Going digital: Students from all streams pitched in for the project SPECIAL *

ARRANGEMENT

PURPOSE

Zooming in on talent

M Raghuram

Environmentalists have often won­ dered how to connect with young people. Apparently, all we need to do is pick the right medium. Re­ searchers at Nitte University, Man­ galuru, have created QR (Quick Reading) codes of over 1,900 plants and trees. Now with just a smart phone, people can access informa­ tion about plant life around them. Why QR code? “This generation has little time to read print; hope­ fully a QR digital code will not only draw their attention, but also give them instant information, scientific names, common names, place of origin and more, right on their phones,” says Dr Smitha Hegde, leader of the project titled, the ‘Tree Coding Project’. “This, in turn, will also help them identify trees on campus and sensitise them to local flora and fau­ na, besides giving them experien­ tial inputs that will help them iden­ tify varied species,” she added. QR coding of trees is not new and such studies are usually fund­ ed. However, the students of this university did it on their own. “We have a 50­acre campus,” says Dr Sathish Bhandary, Vice Chancellor of Nitte University. “Our students,

from all streams — medicine, engi­ neering, communication humani­ ties and science take an interest in greenery around them. The QR code also links to related websites, images, and text.” The Conservator of Forests, from the State Forest Department, Pra­ kash Natalkar, is also pleased with this initiative. “We must start a pro­ ject like this in the forest depart­ ment too. I am sure as every stu­ dent, teacher and researcher log QR codes, trees will come closer to every person.” If your organisation would like to perform a similar exercise, you can reach out for help to [email protected]

LOG ON

The green brigade that made the QR Code project a reality include Khyarii Aloysius, Liz Therese, Rohith Rajan, Aprathi M, Thansiya, Chandani, Archana Pai, Vivek MS and Crystal Fernandez. The team with guidance from Air Commodore Sunil Pai, has planted over 700 trees and plants, out of which, over 270 have been bar­coded.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

What: The Nature inFocus Photography Awards honours photographers who document natural history and conservation issues. Where: The 2019 edition, part of the Nature inFocus Festival, will happen in July in Bengaluru Who: The contest welcomes entries from adults (above 17) and young photographers (under 17). Adults can enter into the categories of: animal portraits, animal behaviour, conservation issues, creative nature photography, and wildscape and animals in habitat. What else: The Young Photographer Award will put the spotlight on young talent. Category winners will win ₹50,000 and a guided safari tour to a national park of choice (Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore, Tadoba, and Corbett). The ‘NiF Photographer of the Year’ will get an additional cash prize of ₹50,000 and a trip to the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya. How: Submit your entries by May 31 on awards.natureinfocus. in. The jury comprises of filmmaker Jyothy Karat, environmental photographer Arati Kumar­Rao, Chief Con­ servator Of Forests Vijay Mohan Raj, wildlife photographer Sudhir Shivaram, and wildlife filmmaker and photojournal­ ist Sandesh Kadur.

5 EVENTS WORTH YOUR WHILE

CONCERT

EXHIBITION

CUISINE

DANCE

PERFORMANCE

Tribute The Maestro and his Music, is an event to pay tribute to Rudra Veena maestro Ustad Asad Ali Khan. Hindustani classical vocalist Madhumita Ray will render compositions in rare ragas, elaborating on gayaki inspired by Ustad Asad Ali Khan. She will be accompanied by Utpal Ghoshal on tabla, and Damodar Ghosh on harmonium. Venue: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre Time: 7 p.m.

Paintings Existence is an ongoing duet exhibition of paintings. It showcases recent works by Reba Mandal and Purnendu Mandal. Reba's paintings are an ode to the beauty of Benares ghats and Ganga ghats, while Purnendu's work zooms in on monsoon like rain drops, and reflections in water, and shades of dampness. Venue: AIFACS, 1, Rafi Marg Time: 11 a.m. ­ 7 p.m.

Seafood festival Shang Palace, a Chinese speciality restaurant at Shangri­La’s Eros Hotel, is hosting a week­long crab special menu called Crabilicious Affair. This five course menu offers items such as king prawn broth, baked crab and chilly, jumbo mud crab, and Szechwan chilly crab along with some dessert options. Venue: Shang Palace, Shangri­La’s­Eros Hotel Time: 12:30 p.m.­3 p.m. and 7 p.m.­11:45 p.m.

Bharatanatyam Dancer Padmashri Geeta Chandran will inaugurate Spicmacay’s festival of dance and music, Virasat, with a Bharatanatyam performance. She will be accompanied by Guru S. Shankar on nattuvangam, K.Venkateshwaran on vocal, Manohar Balatchandirane on mridangam, G. Raghavendra Prasath on violin. Venue: Maulana Azad Medical College Time: 3:45 p.m.

Flute and guitar The Piano Man Jazz Club will host Boom and Nat Live. The gig will be a unique combination of two flute and classical guitar. Mexican flautist Nathalie Ramirez, interprets different genres such as classical Western, Latin­American, and Hindustani music. She will perform with Shyamant Behal, a guitarist trained in France. Venue: The Piano Man Jazz Club Time: 9 p.m. ­ 11:55 p.m.

CM YK

B ND-NDE

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6 TECH

DELHI

THE HINDU

TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2019

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Apple Products There is no surprise that some of the earliest and rarest Apple products sell for top dollar, considering the company and its co­founder Steve Jobs has such a massive fan following around the globe. Last year, one of the less than 70 remaining original Apple­1 computers was sold at auction for $375,000 (₹2,60,40,000). The computer was made in the mid­1970s by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and sold for $666.66 at the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California. It was owned by a single owner for over 40 years and received a massive 56,000% return on the original investment. The Lisa­1 computer, which had a staggering $10,000 price­tag in the early 1980s, was one of Apple’s biggest commercial failures. However, a working model was sold at an auction in 2017 for a whopping $50,000 (₹34,72,000). While both of them are products from Apple’s early days, the first­generation Apple iPhone, which is relatively newer in comparison, is also quickly becoming a favourite with gadget collectors. A mint­ condition, first­generation iPhone with only 4GB of storage, inside its original box was put on eBay for sale in 2014 for $15,000 (₹10,41,600). The device was originally priced at $599 (₹41,595) when it came out in 2007. We bet you’re digging around your closet for your first iPhone right now.

Intense spends: Costing upwards of the crores, these devices are beyond a mere investment *

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Video Games The video game industry in the last four decades has grown from focused markets to a mainstream economic behemoth. This meteoric rise has also resulted in an ever­ growing collectors’ market for rare video­ game consoles, peripherals and some of the most historically popular games. Back in 2010, an original Nintendo gaming console, along with one controller and five original Nintendo games, was sold for $13,000 (₹9,02,720) on eBay. While the console itself was not the item that was highly in demand, it was the original cardboard the console came in which was believed to be worth $10,000 alone. Recently, a mint condition original copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) created history by selling for $100,150 (₹69,54,416) at an auction, making it one of the most expensive games ever sold. Not only is a game cartridge that was auctioned a rare copy from Nintendo’s test launch but is also unopened and well preserved, further escalating its sale price. It broke the record previously held by a copy of the ultra­rare Nintendo World Championships cartridge which sold for $100,088 (₹69,50,111) on eBay in 2014. Back in 2011, a Nintendo DS system signed by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata (two of Nintendo’s top men), and the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, was auctioned for $3,550 (₹2,46,512) as a part charity auction to raise money for relief efforts for the Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.

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old school With ‘vintage’ being a buzzword for 2019, in the realm of tech, there is an air of collectibility exuded from these throwback gadgets Dhiram Shah

With auction prices hitting fresh highs, even beating the sale records of some of the highly collectible clas­ sic cars, collecting gadgets is no more restricted to just nerds. It has become one of the most lucrative in­ vestment opportunities, with the hammer price even crossing the million­dollar mark on some of these coveted gadgets. From extremely rare video games and computers preserved in mint condition to vintage camera gear, gadgets are quickly becoming an ideal choice for col­ lectors. Some recent gadget auctions have also wit­ nessed collectors pool their funds to acquire these rare items, which has sent the prices soaring higher than ever before. Given Bandersnatch and Captain Marvel have familiarised us with the tech we used to know and still love, why not take a look at the pricier ones which will have our wallets feeling a little weak? #398299

Cameras Amongst all gadgets, cameras have always been one of the top­most coveted items for collectors. The most expensive camera ever sold at an auction is an extremely rare and historically important Leica camera that fetched a whopping $2.96 million. Auctioned at the 32nd Westlicht camera auction in Vienna, Austria, last year, it created a new world record. The camera in question is a 1923 Leica O series camera, which had a starting price of €400,000 (roughly US$492,672) and ended up breaking the world record previously set by another Leica O series camera that was sold for $2.79 million in 2012... let’s not even try to convert that into rupees. The Leica O series prototype cameras are the most coveted ones, with only 12 examples out of the original 25 produced believed to still survive, and only three are preserved in pristine condition. However, along with Leica, there are also some other historic cameras that are highly coveted amongst collectors and rarely cross the auction block. One such shooter is the earliest known Nikon camera that was sold for about $407,900 (₹2,83,24,576) in 2016 at the Westlicht auction, fetching more than twice the estimated value. The Nikon One camera auctioned was the 11th actual camera built by the Japanese manufacturer somewhere in 1948.

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MICRO-CHIPS

Telemedicine, roboticised doctors?

Smarter living Autonomy is the new black, in part thanks to these new additions Toreto’s Bloom smartwatch

Doctors using video­chat robotics to discuss sensitive and confidential health issues gives a whole new meaning to ‘clinical’ Akila Kannadasan

“I don’t know if he’s going to get home,” said a robot to a dying man in a California hospital last month. Seventy­eight­year­old Ernest Quintana was admitted to Kaiser Permanente Hospital for chronic lung disease. On the day he was told that he was going to die, he was alone in the hospital room with his granddaughter. The machine rolled in minutes before a nurse popped in and told them that a doctor, who was on his rounds, will be present. The doctor did indeed show up, but in the robot’s moni­ tor, while he was really seated hun­ dreds of kilometres away. The inci­ dent, as predicted, sparked global outrage. The question on everyone’s mind was: ‘How can a machine be used for a situation as delicate as this one?’ The hospital received a lot of flak, but it defended its use of telemedicine. Unfortunate that it is, this incident has brought the fo­ cus on telemedicine. The World Health Organization defines tele­ medicine as: ‘The delivery of health care services, where dis­ tance is a critical factor, by all health care professionals using in­ formation and communication technologies….” Anything, right CM YK

from using a mobile phone to com­ municate with a doctor to a video conference call between the pa­ tient and the doctor, falls into the category. For developing nations like ours, that’s also among the fastest to be digitised, this technology is a bless­ ing. People from interior rural areas, where healthcare is a luxury, may not find the act of simply opening an app on their phone to connect with a doctor, as over­ whelming as say, changing two bus­ es to reach the nearest Govern­ ment hospital. There are several ............................................................ ............................................................

Anything from using a mobile phone to a video conference call falls into the category

mobile apps that connect doctors and patients for the purpose. RingMD, for instance, provides ser­ vices to people in rural, urban, as well as conflict­prone areas. Using the mobile app, users can connect to healthcare professionals through online video consultations from anywhere. In its recently­released report tit­ led ‘Digital India: Technology to transform a connected nation’, the

McKinsey Global Institute says, “If telemedicine replaced 30 to 40% of in­person outpatient consultations, coupled with digitisation in the ov­ erall healthcare industry, India could save up to $10 billion in 2025.” However, it can be argued that not everyone owns a smartphone, and not everyone will be able to ex­ plain his/her symptoms to a doctor over a call. But despite it all, this technology is among the fastest growing today. In one of Tamil writer Sujatha’s popular short­stories, an old man brings his sick grandson to a Go­ vernment hospital in the city. They are intimidated by the loud nurses and curt doctors. After a long day of running from pillar to post to no avail, they go back home, without consulting a doctor. However, a doctor who briefly interacted with them that day, frantically asks his assistant where the two of them were. “That boy is dying!” says the doctor. But it is too late. There is no way they can reach him. The aforementioned story was written decades ago, but portions of it are scarily relevant. However, with telemedicine, the ending, may have been different today. Byte-sized play-by-plays of tech concepts

₹3,499 Toreto Bloom is equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and has an alloyed metallic finish which adds on to your everyday style. The IP68 waterproof feature keeps the watch safe up to 1.5 metres for half an hour. Combined with an advanced chipset, the band boasts of lower battery consumption that ensures long­term performance. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.4, you can stay connected as you get alerts for the messages, calls on your wrist. Simply pair with the WearHealth App on your Android or iOS smartphone to access all its features. Toreto Bloom measures the number of calories burnt, tests blood pressure, tracks heart rate, while keeping a count of the steps taken, in order to improve the users’ fitness.

Moleskine’s Pen+ Ellipse $179 Whether your focus is note­taking, sketching or planning, you can choose from a range of compatible paper formats and layouts to build your own Smart Writing System around the Pen+ Ellipse. The Smart Writing System works thanks to Ncoded paper technology that allows the Pen+ Ellipse to recognise individual pages, different Paper Tablets, and specific times and dates in the Smart Diary/Planner. Each pen stroke is captured in real time and immediately transferred to your device and connected apps and services via the Moleskine Notes app.

Moleskine’s Paper Tablet $29.95 Together with the Pen+ smart pen and Moleskine Notes App, the Paper Tablet bridges the analogue­digital divide. This XL version of the Paper Tablet has plenty of distraction­free space on each page for even the biggest projects. Each page of the Paper Tablet contains Ncoded technology that allows the Pen+ to recognise where it is within the notebook and to immediately transfer all your freehand notes to your preferred device via Bluetooth. The XL format and resistant 100 g/m2 ruled paper provide the perfect structured surface for your ideas to thrive.

Tile’s Tile Pro tracker

$35 per tile Tile calls their latest little tracker, ‘Pro’, their most powerful. At 15.5g, this Bluetooth tracker is a must­have for those who tend to forget where they’ve left their important items. But don’t let the small size fool you, the Tile Pro has undergone rigorous tests for durability. Tile Pro has a 300ft / 90m range and a one­year replaceable CR2032 battery. Pair with the Tile app for that on­the­go and seamless tracking experience or integrate Tile Pro with Alexa or Google Assistant. B ND-NDE